Make Me Mad
by Allegra
Summary: Alec wakes up with a big blank where the last two days of his life should be. But someone's got a grander scheme than helping him put the pieces back together. Can Max do it for him or is Alec lost forever?
1. Default Chapter

MAKE ME MAD  
By Allegra  
  
Rating: 15(UK) PG-13(US)  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters (except a few minor ones). They all belong to James Cameron & Charles Eglee. Don't sue. There's really no point because I haven't got two pennies to rub together!  
  
Author's note: This is my first 'Dark Angel' story & I haven't seen all the eps of series 2 yet, so I apologise for any strange discrepancies. I'll try to amend them as I go along. I'd really appreciate feedback on it. I'm dying to know what you think. It really helps the writing process. Anyway, enough blathering. I hope you enjoy the first bit.  
  
Summary: Alec wakes up with a big blank where the last two days of his life should be. But someone's got a grander scheme than helping him put the pieces back together. Can Max do it for him or is Alec lost forever?  
  
**********  
  
494...494...494...four nine four? What did that mean? What significance did it have that it was all he could remember?  
  
"Get him cleaned up. I've already made the call to Pine View. There shouldn't be any trouble now."  
  
The voices sounded sluggish and low, like old men growling in the distance. Alec had never felt this way in his transgenic life before. He could understand the words that came out these people's mouths but he couldn't focus on each phoneme long enough to make head or tail of the sentences. One thing he could tell, they were talking about him. His eyes felt heavy as lead and it took too much energy to lift them. Every limb felt numb and he could almost feel the drugs circulating through his body. It grew increasingly difficult to conjure coherent thought and, as all his strength filtered away, Alec surrendered himself to deep slumber.  
  
"Come on, let's get it out of here." Dr. Carl Geiger looked down, curiously, at the young man lying on the gurney in front of him. He had been heavily involved with the fine tuning of Manticore's children, it's creations. He had taken the job seriously and loved his work more than any private life he might have had. But things had changed. The transgenics had started to think for themselves, they had escaped into the real world and started to take matters into their own hands. What had once been a marvellous manufacture had since disintegrated into a global hazard. They might not have passports but with strength and endurance to ride in the luggage bay, these things could spread across the world, breed and multiply.  
  
As much as it had pained him to sacrifice work that he could never gain recognition for, Geiger knew what would happen to him if he faltered on the path marked out for him. The conditions of his employment had been clear enough. Classified - no mention of it beyond the walls of Manticore. Follow Manticore's precise rules and life would treat him well - money, security, a house.   
  
He had trained himself to believe what he was doing was right, in the name of science and the progression of mankind, but Carl still had to fight his feelings. After all, he was a man not a machine. The 'it' in front of him was nothing more than a kid, younger than his own son. 494 was his number but Alec was the name his fellow escapees had christened him with. With his head turned towards the doctor, dark lashes veiling pale skin, he looked the picture of innocence. It was hard to believe that superhuman blood pumped in those veins, that only drugs could keep him from pounding Carl's skull into a pulp.  
  
"Get an IV running, 4ccs of morphine. I want him fully sedated in transit." The nurse nodded mutely and carried out her superior's orders. Carl knew White would have his guts for garters if any part of this plan went wrong. 494 still had a purpose; he just couldn't know it yet.  
  
"Is the X5 ready?" One of White's henchmen poked his head round the door of the surgery. Carl nodded. "Fine, let's move him out." With a click of his fingers, two orderlies appeared and kicked off the brakes on the gurney. Adjusting the IV needled embedded in Alec's hand, they trundled him out of the surgery and towards the private van waiting outside.   
  
If he'd been conscious, Alec would have fought tooth and nail to save himself from the fate awaiting him, but he wasn't and his fate lay in the hands of his worst enemies.  
  
**********  
  
"For the last time, I wanted him gone. He went. Period." Max's vehemence was almost convincing if the person she was telling didn't know her through and through. Original Cindy raised her eyebrows, unconvinced. "Who you trying to kid? You tryin' to tell me you're happy he's gone?"  
  
Max sighed, wearily. "For the last time, yes."  
  
Original Cindy brought her hands up in a gesture of surrender. "He must have hit one raw nerve to get your cold shoulder."  
  
"Yep, now we're going to drop this, kay?" Max levelled a determined gaze at her friend. It wasn't a question and OC knew better than to push it. Max unfolded some crumpled dollar bills from the back pocket of her jeans. "I got enough green stuff for another beer. You want?"  
  
"Boo, you know I'm good if you're buying."   
  
Max was relieved to get away from the grilling OC was giving her. She hated the way her friend's eyes seemed to pierce her brain, rifling around for answers and questions she didn't want to think about. Everything she had said was true - she had wanted Alec gone. They had argued, they had both said some things, hurtful things. In the moments when she tried to tune out his abuse, Max had totted up the number of times he had screwed up. Both professionally and personally, Alec had lent a dark hand in practically every mishap that had befallen her. Logan hated his guts and Max found it hard to know what to feel anymore.  
  
She had always found it difficult to deal with the deep and meaningfuls. There hadn't been a lot of affection in good old Manticore and Max still didn't like to dig into her emotions. She was learning to let them out occasionally but the reality of love, passion, crush and the one night stand were still pretty grey areas in her book. She'd been certain there was something special between her and Logan, but was it driven by what a good team they made professionally? After the excitement and thrill of the mission, the X5 would get back to Logan's, still on a high. The two had almost become synonymous. She couldn't be sure if it was Logan or the mission that brought electricity bubbling to the surface.  
  
Alec was a whole different ball game. He was like her physically. They could compete evenly; their gig was to go at loggerheads on every front. They were so wrong for each other, too alike to work, but that's where the world got complicated again. With nothing between them in physical prowess, there was nowhere to go from there except inside. Max didn't want to let him in, Alec didn't like to admit she got to him sometimes and soon the bickering would start up again. If they wouldn't open up to each other, anger would take its place.  
  
His disappearance was already leaving an Alec-shaped hole that Max just couldn't seem to fill. Only time would tell if it ever would be.  
  
**********  
  
END OF PART ONE  
  
So, should I keep going? Is this interesting to anyone or just a pile of *!£^ ? 


	2. Chapter 2

MAKE ME MAD  
By Allegra  
  
Thank you to all the lovely people who have reviewed this so far. As a new fan to the show, I was worried it wouldn't meet the standard in terms of characterisation etc. I'd love to hear feedback on how it's progressing. I really hope you enjoy this part. Please, please review for me!  
  
See Part 1 for disclaimers etc.  
  
PART TWO  
  
His mouth felt arid - like someone had washed it out with sand. His own body seemed closer than ever before. He could hear the sound of his breathing, in and out in deep, even strides. He could feel his limbs weighing heavy along the bed, fabric beneath him and over him. There were more distant sounds swimming into focus now, too. Beeping, ringing, voices muttering, footsteps padding softly around nearby.  
  
Alec struggled to open his eyes, flinching against the brightness that assailed his sensitive pupils. At first, he wasn't sure what he was looking at and he squinted trying to bring objects into focus around him. Gradually, dark fuzzy lines became cracks and textures evened out until it was clear he was staring up at a rather decrepit ceiling.  
  
The young transgenic fought to remain coherent in the foggy haze that still lay around his mind like a layer of cotton wool. People were milling around outside his door. He was in some kind of institution, a hospital or something, but Alec couldn't figure out what was going on. He had to get up and get out of here. Jerking up, he was thrown flat back on the bed by something constraining him. His gaze tracked down to his wrists, his brow furrowing in confusion at seeing restraints pinning him down. He tugged weakly at them, surprised that he could barely stretch the well-used leather let alone wrench himself free.   
  
He cursed under his breath. This was not good. He'd had a cage before but not this... and why was he so weak? He looked urgently around the room, desperately searching for something to effect his escape with. He could have used the bracket from the unused television, but then he'd already need a pair of hands to achieve that. He could try to loosen the IV in his arm and use the needle end to lever the buckles open but the brittle metal would probably break and his head wouldn't reach that far to use his teeth. Sensing movement from the corner of his eye, Alec turned his head to see a robust-looking nurse stride into the room.  
  
He eyed her up and down, suspiciously, wondering whether she was friend or foe. She looked nice enough but then you could never be sure. If she knew what he was, where he was from, that would all change in an instant. He'd seen it happen. Faces altered in seconds from sincere affability to animosity simply because of the extraordinary feats he could do. Swallowing, he mustered up the Alec charm he had witnessed working a thousand times before. "Excuse me..." His eyes adjusted to read the name badge on her uniform, "...Diana, could you please get me out of these restraints?"  
  
She peered at him over her half-moon spectacles, weighing up the sincerity in his eyes. She was in no mood for teenage antics today. The more patients she had tethered up the better her day would become. "Sorry, hon, no can do."  
  
Alec felt his heart begin to beat a little faster in his chest but kept his voice steady. "They're starting to chafe."  
  
Diana Bishop glanced at the young man's wrists, unimpressed. "Well, if you stopped wriggling your hands around...." She saw his face fall. Another act? "Listen, hon. I don't have the authority to take them off. You need to take that up with your doctor in session."  
  
Alec's eyebrows drew together in puzzlement. "In session? What doctor?" The nurse said nothing but picked up the chart from the foot of his bed and began checking monitors and ticking boxes. The transgenic began to process this new information. "Where am I?"  
  
Nurse Bishop looked up from the chart, pen poised in her hand. Maybe it was the wave of confusion she could see in his eyes or a small part of her that still felt sorry for the kids thrown in here, but the milk of human kindness flowed somewhere inside. She could humour this one. "You're at Pineview House, honey. You've been here for a day now. Don't you remember when they brought you in?"  
  
Alec shook his head, mutely. He didn't remember anything and it was making him even more worried than the restraints. He tugged at them again but the nurse's hands closed over his arms, pushing them back onto the bed. "Come on now, hon. You don't want to hurt yourself again." Alec looked up at her in surprise. He didn't want to a look like a fool or a madman so he chose to keep quiet, but there was definitely something amiss here.   
  
Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead, agitation kicking in. The older woman's hand moved to his face, gently smoothing his hair back, her expression one of a helpless mother trying to soothe a bewildered child. "Shall I get you something to help you sleep?"  
  
Alec shook his head, moving his head away from her unwanted touch. "No. I want to get out of this bed." The nurse nodded, knowingly, but replaced the chart and headed for the door. "I'll see what I can rustle up," was all she said in response.  
  
Letting his head drop back against the starched pillow, Alec sighed in exasperation. In that moment, he noticed a sharp pain in his wrists from where he had been yanking on the cuffs. Lifting his hand tentatively, he craned his neck down the bed. White bandages were wrapped tightly around both wrists, small droplets of blood already tainting the white fabric. "What the hell...?" he breathed. He didn't need a doctor to tell him what the telltale signs meant. But it couldn't be true...could it? He would never do this to himself, he had never even thought it.  
  
Nurse Bishop returned, bearing a small tray which she placed on the side table. Alec watched her in disbelief. He didn't know what to say, how to protest. He didn't understand anything anymore. Nothing made sense to him - not the hospital, the restraints, the bandages. It was like he had lost it overnight in some strange fit of delusion. The nurse plunged the needle into a vial of liquid and withdrew it, tapping the plastic firmly with a forefinger to remove bubbles. She deftly inserted it into his IV line just as Alec found his voice, "No, wait!"   
  
"Just rest easy, sweetheart. I'll come and check on you in a couple of hours."  
  
The drug was quick-acting and Alec had no idea how much of a battering his X5 immune system had taken since he had been admitted. Within seconds, it had claimed every muscle and course through his bloodstream like strong liquor. The world grew foggy again, dragging any thoughts or reasoning into the mist with consciousness. He could feel hands pulling the crumpled blankets up around his inert body but Alec was powerless to do anything about it. "This must be a dream..." slipped from his lips before his struggling ceased.  
  
**********  
  
"Hello, yes, I just wanted to check in on a patient of mine. He was admitted yesterday. Uh, yes, the name is Christian Hastings. Thank you." White held the line while the Pineview receptionist rifled through the files. From the end of a receiver, the man couldn't help congratulating himself on finding such a backward establishment for his charge. Nothing could beat Pineview for files that backdated to the 50s with barely an ounce of valuable information in it. He had taken the opportunity of perusing a few past patients' portfolios before making his choice of home. Not even in his wildest dreams had he conjured up such perfection. The files contained minutiae of billing information to custodians, lists of prescriptions and, best of all, vague notes made by the resident alcoholic psychiatrist. Nobody would ever be able to trace 494 back here. Even if they did, he'd be so deeply hidden in the system, his details would be impossible to pull out. White had already seen to that.  
  
A rustle on the end of the phone was quickly replaced with the young receptionist's confident voice. "Yes, sir. I've found him. He's resting comfortably now, all his vital signs are stable. We've got everything in hand."  
  
"Excellent," White grinned to himself. "And, while you're at it, could you verify that Christian will be having sessions with me three times a week until I am contented that he is not a danger to himself?"  
  
"Sure," the girl replied gaily. It was clear that she was enjoying every minute of playing the capable office girl. White doubted she ever had much opportunity to do so considering the location of Pineview and its permanent residents. "Yes, Dr. Weir made a note of that on his file. We'll be expecting you tomorrow afternoon, is that right?"  
  
"Yes. Excellent. Thank you, Charlotte, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes, sir. Charlotte Thorn." White thanked her as courteously as he could, after all, it always helped to have staff on his side from the beginning. It saved any arm breaking that was sometimes called for later on in the proceedings.  
  
**********  
  
To the tramp slumped in an alcohol-induced haze down the alley, the approaching figures were nothing more than two teenaged girls who were probably asking for it. Given their street clothes, it wasn't likely that they were selling their wares, but this sure as hell wasn't the kind of place a good girl went at night. Fortunate for them, he mused, that the bottle of whiskey he was nursing would probably save them from his lecherous hands tonight. Mumbling incoherently, he watched them pass.  
  
To 476 and 482, the situation looked rather different. 20-20 vision alerted them to the tiniest sound around them. Should anyone dare to approach them, that perpetrator would find a face full of boot before he even knew what hit him. Half the fun of walking down a dark alley at night was the thrill of knowing they could kick anyone's ass. It was like actively seeking out the bad guys just to pound them into oblivion. But there were other reasons for finding the dark places, too. 476 and 482 had quickly learned how different life was on the outside of Manticore.  
  
They couldn't introduce themselves as a number in this society, so they adopted names. They read the newspapers and saw horrors in the world that they were trained to fight yet the tabloids screeched out stories about freak soldiers being genetically created in laboratories with bar codes on the backs of their necks. This world didn't want them and so they tried to blend in. Now, they called themselves Marie and Laurie. It was a novelty they were still getting accustomed to.  
  
"What was that?" Laurie exclaimed, pausing on the damp sidewalk.   
  
Maria cocked her head a little, separating out each sound from the street. "I can't hear anything." With their backs to the dimness of the alley, staring out into the street, it was a moment before the footsteps' direction became clear.   
They whirled around to face a group of burly men barring their path.  
  
Before they could spring into action, two men produced a cattle prod which they quickly rammed into the girls' ribs. Marie watched the rest of the scene helplessly from where she was twitching on the ground. Joules of energy still coursed through her body, forcing her muscles into spasms that she had no control over. Still reeling from the pain, she saw Laurie collapse to the ground nearby before one man draped her over his shoulder and disappeared out of Marie's range. She tried to cry out but no sound left her lips. By the time her body had recovered from its ordeal, Laurie would be long gone.  
  
**********  
  
Alec's head was swimming; he felt peaceful like he was drifting along the water, weightless and content. Only occasionally, for a mere fraction of a second, he felt a nagging in his brain. He brushed it aside, it couldn't be anything important, not when he felt like this. Then, like a whoosh of freezing air, he felt his whole self hurtling towards coherency and consciousness. Bursting from the dream, he found himself right back in the hideous hospital he had almost forgotten. Was this all part of the same dream?  
  
"Sorry about that, hon. Just a bit of adrenaline. You'll be okay." Alec gasped, drawing in lungfuls of air in rapid succession. He felt cold and instinctively tried to draw his arms around himself. He was quickly reminded that his limbs were not his own to move anymore. The nurse responded quickly to the jerky movements and pressed his shoulders back down the bed, firmly. "Now, you listen to me. Your doctor is here to talk to you. He's waiting in one of our private rooms." Her eyes widened, her severity clear in the clipped tone of her voice. "This is your chance to have the restraints removed. You show me and the doctor that you can behave normally - no violence, no self-abuse - then you'll see how quickly life can improve at Pineview. You hear?"  
  
Alec was still orientating himself to the surroundings, still hardly able to believe this wasn't a dream. He didn't want to think about talking to a shrink, he wanted to remember what drove him to this place. He wanted the memories to come flooding back. It was as if there was a dam holding them all back and he couldn't find the handle to wrench the floodgates open again.   
  
"Do you understand what I'm saying?" Nurse Bishop asked, sharply.   
  
Alec nodded weakly and croaked, "Yes. I understand." He had half expected a different voice to come out of his own mouth. Nothing seemed to belonged to him anymore, there was no semblance of normal life to cling to. It was as if he didn't exist at all.  
  
He watched numbly as the nurse methodically worked the thick leather straps from around his wrists and ankles. Occasionally, as he limbered up his stiff limbs, her eyes would dart to his face as if awaiting some outburst of violence. "Follow me." Alec did as he was bid.  
  
He followed her down countless corridors. Some had windows, others just ventilation grilles. Doors lined both sides, some with numbers on like a hotel and others identified as research labs, counselling rooms and, most worryingly of all, EST treatment room. Alec had never received electric shock therapy personally, but he had certainly seen its victims. If anything could instil the fear of God in him, it would be that not some jumped up psychiatrist. He just had to get out of here.  
  
Alec's senses began to sharpen with the new information around him. He took in all the ducts, elevator shafts and staircases with military precision. He had never fully appreciated his photographic memory until now. Manticore had given him something valuable after all. He tried to take in as much as he could without turning his head too much. Nurse Bishop watched him like a hawk, years of experience teaching her the signs to look out for. If he looked too alert, she'd decide he didn't have enough drugs in his system to keep him calm. Psychotic tendencies would follow shortly and then they'd have a serious problem on their hands. Alec didn't need to have worked in a hospital to know the mentality behind such an institution's employees. He just had to play it sane, then maybe he wouldn't even need to break out of Pineview. They'd just let him walk.  
  
His mind turned to what he might say to the doctor, the best strategies for securing his quick release. Before he had time to think straight, Nurse Bishop opened a door to her left and gestured for him to follow. Stepping inside, Alec was confronted with a prim-looking middle-aged man in a charcoal suit. The man stood up and pointed to the chair opposite his desk. "Welcome, Christian. I'm Dr. Ford. I'm here to help you. We're going to solve this together."   
  
**********  
  
END OF PART 2  
  
What did you think? Please, please, please, please review it for me!!! You know you want to :) 


	3. Chapter 3

MAKE ME MAD  
By Allegra  
  
See Part 1 for disclaimers etc.  
  
This has weirdly worked out as one huge, long scene, so I hope it doesn't bore you! I just wanted to answer a few questions concerning what this story is about & set the scene up properly. I really hope you like it. Thank you so much to the lovely, lovely people who have reviewed this so far. You have been a true inspiration.  
  
PART THREE  
  
"Christian, please have a seat." Dr. Ford gestured to the black leather chair opposite his desk again while Alec simply stood mutely in the open door. Quickly taking in the tenuous opportunities for escape at this juncture, he moved steadily towards the doctor.  
  
"Listen, I think you've got the wrong guy. My name's not Christian and I'm not crazy, all right? I don't know what kind of paperwork you need to sort out on my behalf but I can assure you nothing will be necessary. I won't press any legal charges in light of this mistake. After all, being committed to an insane asylum is hardly the kind of thing a guy wants to be recognised for, if you know what I mean." Alec adopted his most winning smile and tried to be as polite as he could muster.  
  
The doctor seemed unflustered by this opening and smiled, knowingly. Alec didn't like the look of that smile one bit. It was the expression of a man who was completely in control of a situation, unruffled by any words thrown at him. He was probably going to have an answer for everything. Alec really hated that.  
  
Dr. Ford repeated, "Ah, of course." He glanced at the open file in front of him. "Would you prefer that I call you Alec or..." He peered over his half-moon glasses at the small print. "...or perhaps 494 would be preferable?"  
  
Alec opened his mouth to reply but stopped short and frowned. He swallowed, steadying his voice. This man knew something about Manticore. The thought that this might be a trap, some form of Manticore test, crossed his mind for a moment. "Uh, Alec is fine, I guess. Look, what's going on here?" He looked from the nurse to the doctor, his eyes darting almost imperceptibly to the door which stood ajar next to Nurse Bishop. The buxom woman closed it firmly and moved towards him, resting a hand on his arm. "Now remember what I told you, hon. Co-operate with the doctor and you might get rid of those restraints." Her finger wagging in his face was enough to bring the old Alec firmly back into focus. He couldn't stand being told what to do but to be patronised on top of being considered a lunatic was about to bring him to the boil.  
  
"Hey, listen, lady. I'm not crazy, I don't need restraints, I just need to get out of here! Okay?" Calming the irritation audible in his voice, Alec trained himself back to a semblance of normal behaviour. "Listen, doctor, I really don't need of any of this. Not that I don't appreciate the offer of a little psych every now and again, but my mind is just fine."  
  
"Doctor, would you like me to sit in until he's calmed down?" Nurse Bishop enquired.   
  
Dr. Ford shook his head in assurance. "No, thank you, Nurse Bishop, I'll take it from here. If you'd just come back for Christian at the end of the session, that would be perfect." He flashed her an appreciative grin and the two men watched in silence as she left the room and her footsteps echoed away down the long corridor.   
  
Clearing his throat, the psychiatrist sat down, leaving Alec standing a little bewildered. The Manticorian recognised this tactic - sitting down while the patient was standing conveyed an unthreatening stance thus putting the subject at ease. It inspired confidence, a trustworthy ear for listening to problems. "Now Alec, please sit down." He spoke the young man's name deliberately as if humouring a complete freak.  
  
Alec chuckled mirthlessly and raised his eyebrows in a gesture of surrender. He might as well play along for a bit. The worst that could happen would be that he'd convince the good doctor of his sanity. He sat down. "Fine, let's talk."  
  
Dr. Ford perused the file again and Alec craned his neck, trying to read any of the information written there. "That's a pretty big file you've got on me. Care to share?"  
  
"Well, for someone with your relationship with the health service, I'm surprised the paperwork wasn't more voluminous. But we're not here to talk about your past issues, Alec. We're here to confront the here and now, the real problems confronting you."  
  
Alec shrugged and muttered under his breath, "If you only knew."  
  
"Excuse me?" Dr. Ford asked.  
  
"Nothing. What can I say? I'm not crazy. I'm really not. I don't know how I got here. The last thing I remember is..." Alec's brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to rewind the past few days of his life.   
  
"Is what, Alec?" The psychiatrist was poised to strike, awaiting the inevitable answer.  
  
"Well, it's all a bit hazy at the moment, but that's got nothing to do with my mind. It's the goddamn drugs you people pumped into me. I've only just got back from cloud land, so give me a break, man." Alec knew he was sounding defensive but he couldn't afford to let this guy make any assumptions about him. He'd knew about the files built on him in psy-ops, how scrupulous the doctors were.  
  
"Would you like me to fill in the blanks for you?" Dr. Ford enquired, leaning forward and interlacing his fingers.  
  
"Sure," Alec accepted, warily. He didn't feel comfortable with the situation at all. After all, this doctor could be telling him anything.  
  
"You were found on the floor of the bathroom in your apartment with a razor blade and your wrists slit open. Your girlfriend found you. She called an ambulance then your therapist and a decision had to be made as to your mental stability." The older man's gaze never left his patient. He was watching for any flicker of recognition or a reaction indicative of his mindset. "Does this ring any bells?"  
  
Alec looked down at his bandaged wrists, the dressings only recently changed. "No." His voice didn't sound like his own, rough and rasping.  
  
Dr. Ford adopted a gentler tone. "Can you tell me anything about how you've been feeling in recent weeks. Have you been feeling more depressed, like the world was closing in on you? Like there was no escape?"  
  
"No," Alec started, indignantly. "I haven't been feeling anything! How many times do I have to tell you that there's nothing wrong with me?"  
  
"Alec, can you tell me some more about this Manticore facility? Do you think there is any relation between your feelings towards events in real life and the fictitious world of Manticore that you have created?"  
  
Alec's head jerked up to meet the doctor's gaze head-on. "Fictitious? Manticore is not..." He stopped himself. He couldn't talk about it, it would only lead to trouble. His history as an X5 was highly classified information and none of his kind could afford to have it fall into the wrong hands. "I don't know any more about Manticore than you do," he finished, curtly.  
  
"And what's that?"  
  
Alec shrugged, "Just what I read in the tabloids, I guess."  
  
"Ah, yes, the tabloids. I have seen them, it's true, but your therapist has researched into the anonymous tips the rags have received. Did you have anything to do with that, Alec?"  
  
"You think I want to spend my time tipping off the National Enquirer about the day Michael Jackson's face fell off? No. I don't know who is selling the stories...and while we're on the subject, I don't have a therapist."  
  
Dr. Ford nodded in understanding and scribbed a brief note on his pad. Looking up, he continued, "What about this designation...494. What significance does that have?"  
  
Alec didn't like the way this little exchange was progressing. It made him wary that he was completely lost as to what was happening yet the doctor obviously had all the information he needed. "Listen, man, you've got an advantage over me. You seem to know a great deal about me and I know nothing about what's going on here."  
  
Dr. Ford probed, "So, all this information is correct?"  
  
"Well, you got my name right."  
  
"Which name was that - Alec or 494?" Dr. Ford's pen was poised above his sheet of paper, ready to write down whatever answer the patient provided. Just that simple act irritated the hell out of Alec. He refused to be drawn into this cat and mouse game.  
  
"Look, going round in circles isn't going to do either of us any good. My name is Alec, yes. I don't have a therapist, I don't know anything about this Manticore place and if I did try to commit suicide, which I really didn't, then you have my assurance that it will never happen again. I like my life just fine."  
  
Dr. Ford surveyed the youthful face before him, the nervous light behind those eyes, the restraint visible in the angle of his body. "Well, then, you indulge me and I'll indulge you. I'll tell you everything I have in this file if you answer my questions."  
  
"You're bargaining with me?" Alec inquired, incredulously. He had yet to come across any kind of doctor who accepted anything less than full co-operation. Dr. Ford opened his hands in a gesture of offering. "Fine, okay, but you go first."  
  
"Excellent." Ford flicked through the pages of Alec's file until he landed at the first entry. "Your childhood was spent in Arizona as the only child to Mary and James Hastings. At the age of sixteen, you left home to strike out on your own. You came here to Seattle and got a job at a courier agency. Your girlfriend is a fellow courier called Laura. Your life was pretty average until last year when you had a bad run delivering a package. You were badly beaten with several blows to the head. Shortly after this, you developed paranoid delusions which were not consistent with any physical anomaly. Laura convinced you to get a therapist which you agreed to and... well, here you are, Christian, uh, Alec."  
  
"Paranoid delusions?" Alec repeated, blankly. "You believe that?"  
  
"I believe that you believe they are real. That's why I'm here, to help you."  
  
"I don't need help," Alec sulked.  
  
Dr. Ford peered over his glasses at the patient once more. "I beg to differ. You drove yourself to suicide."  
  
Alec was finding it increasingly hard to keep his cool. "Whatever," was all he said in response.  
  
Dr. Ford prompted, "So now it's time for you to answer some of my questions. Let's start with Manticore. I would like you to tell me everything you know about it - from the people you know there to what it looks like. I want to get inside your head, Alec, to help you resolve this."  
  
Alec's gaze shifted around the room once more. "I'm afraid I can't do that, doctor. I don't know anything about it."  
  
"I thought we had a deal, Alec." Ford's voice betrayed a note of irritation at the lack of co-operation. Now the real Manticorian doctor would come out of the closet, Alec reckoned. It was only a matter of time before they started treating him like a guinea pig, testing and pushing. He wasn't going to stick around long enough for that.  
  
"I can't tell you what I don't know...and I've had enough of this shit." He stood up a little harder than he had planned and the chair went sliding across the floor. He went for the barred window and wrenched at the metal grate welded into place over it, oblivious to the fact that Dr. Ford had just pressed the emergency button under his desk.  
  
"Christian, I mean, Alec...calm down. It was just a question. I'm sorry if I've pushed you too far. You don't have to talk about that just yet."  
  
"I don't care what you want to talk about. I've had it up to here with this bullshit. You think I'm insane but you're all the crazy ones. Keeping people locked up against their will for no reason! It's against human rights!" Alec strained against the metal and vaguely recalled that pulling grates out had never been his strong point. He'd needed Joshua to get Max out of Manticore and it had taken him and Logan ages to get out of the sewer when Isaac had locked them in.   
  
A moment later, the door burst open and two orderlies appeared, ready to descend on him. Nurse Bishop followed, "Calm down now, honey. You're safe here. Just come away from the window." Alec knew he could take all three of them on and win, despite any lasting side effects of the drugs he'd had in his system. Weighing up the best way of knocking them down, he flew at the first orderly, drop-kicking him to the ground. The second man followed suit, grabbing Alec's arm but the transgenic simply used the weight to yank the orderly closer and spin him up into the air before letting him land flat on his back. Shoving the nurse aside and leaving the doctor cowering in the corner, Alec burst out of the room and quickly assessed the speediest route to freedom. He had almost made it to the end of the corridor when something sharp lodged in his shoulder. The drug dart was quick acting and the whole world seemed to slow down. He watched his own hand that had closed over a door handle slip bonelessly from the cold metal before the surroundings began spinning and the floor rose to meet him, undulating like a tidal wave. Alec fought to stay up, crouching on all fours, but even his transgenic body could not fight the dose they had put in his system. Gradually, like descending veil, the darkness of unconsciousness claimed him.  
  
**********  
  
END OF PART 3  
  
So, there it is. I hope that clears up some of the issues about what he remembers etc. I want him to be broken down gradually, 'coz I'm sadistic like that. Please, please review. 


	4. Chapter 4

MAKE ME MAD  
By Allegra  
  
See Part 1 for disclaimers etc.  
  
Lynn - Thank you so much for all the lovely things you've been saying about my fic. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside & then made me want to make Alec suffer even more!! But I promise, Max will find him soon enough. I have a habit of drawing my stories out but I do have the whole plot fully worked out ahead so she'll find out about him in a few chapters. Sorry for the wait!  
  
Riley - Yes, I did mean to put co-operation rather than cooperation. It's the correct spelling in the UK, but thanks for looking out for my typos. I've been getting a bit eager to post before re-reading some chapters! Thank you as well for all your fab reviews - they really keep me going. I hope the next chapter doesn't disappoint.   
  
**********  
  
"Hey." Max greeted Logan.  
  
"Are you okay?" He noticed the subdued expression on the girl's face. Logan knew his concern would most likely be brushed off with Max's usual attempt at casual. He'd seen her vulnerable on more than one occasion but he knew how much she hated to share those moments.   
  
"I'm cool, just got a few things on my mind. Nothing swiping something from this posh penthouse wouldn't cure." She grinned and sidled towards the kitchen, rummaging in the refrigerator. It might not be her own digs but Max knew her way round Logan's apartment like the back of her hand and she knew he didn't mind her making herself at home. Quite the opposite in fact.   
  
Ever since Alec had 'done his duty' by implanting her with a virus to keep Max and Logan apart, things between the pair had been somewhat strained and she had hated her fellow transgenic for his betrayal. She would have liked nothing better than to see him drop off the edge of the world, or maybe the Space Needle would do. Ironic then that, for the first time since she had escaped Manticore, Max was thinking about Alec instead of Logan. She had come to the penthouse primarily out of habit. She didn't really want any deep and meaningful conversations or to squeeze Eyes Only for any information. Hell, she wasn't even sure she wanted company. It was a last resort.   
  
If Max were being completely honest with herself, she would admit that Alec's sudden departure had upset her more than she liked. By coming to Logan, she was looking to find the spark they couldn't act on. In a selfish fit of twisted logic, Max imagined that if she could feel as much for Logan as she had before being returned to Manticore then the endless turmoil of her last words to Alec would fall away. She'd be able to forget about the jerk and move on.  
  
"Max, do you want to refrigerate the whole neighbourhood?" Logan moved towards her, prompting Max to back away from the appliance immediately.  
  
"Watch it! I wouldn't want to give you anything contagious." The words came out more harshly than she had intended and Max shot him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Logan. I didn't mean that to sound so..."  
  
"It's okay. I understand. I was going to call out for pizza and catch a movie. You want to hang for a bit?" Logan deftly turned the conversation around in one seamless move. Max always liked the way he could do that.  
  
"Sure, why not? I need to chill."  
  
An hour later everything was going according to plan for Max. Logan had been on the receiving end of her snappiness often enough to know when to let it lie. This had made for a pretty pleasurable evening so far. They had avoided any romantic films for obvious reasons and Logan had carefully ignored the action genre as well. Max knew he disliked how often she stepped into the fray without enough concern for her own safety. He seemed to have a different set of rules for each occasion and that always confused her. Sometimes he'd ask her to do favours on his behalf like breaking into places and retrieving documents for him but he balked at the prospect of her pursuing her own interests. Max tried to push these negative thoughts aside. She could see she was projecting her own anger towards herself and her own inadequacies concerning Alec. This had nothing to do with Logan and she was going to have to watch her tongue if she didn't want to offend him for life.  
  
"Listen, Max, I need a favour." Logan chewed on another peanut and eyed his companion up with apprehension. He hadn't imagined broaching the issue when she was so obviously in a foul mood, but he didn't have much choice. Time was always of the essence in these cases and he needed the lead sooner rather than later.  
  
"What is it?" Max barely looked away from the television screen. Her busy life and less than perfect apartment meant that she rarely had time for the tube and had forgotten how relaxing the passive act could be.  
  
Logan tentatively broached the subject. "There's some information I need pulling. It's just that it's on paper only."  
  
Max shrugged, "So, can't you make some calls? I thought Eyes Only had contacts for everything."   
  
The sarcasm was audible in her voice but Logan chose to ignore it. "Bureaucratic bullshit even gets in the way of me sometimes. Can you pull it for me?"  
  
Max turned on him. "You sure know how to take advantage of a girl. Is this all we ever are, Logan? Am I just another useful contact to you?"  
  
"Of course not. Where does this come from?" Logan asked, taken aback by her bitter tone.   
  
"Nowhere, just putting one bit of the puzzle next to the other."  
  
"You don't really believe I think that way about you, do you? Besides, when it comes to business, I give as good as I get."  
  
Max laughed, mirthlessly. "Nothing I couldn't have found out by myself eventually. Can't you ask someone else to run your little errands?" She couldn't stop the cruel words tumbling out of her mouth and the worst part was that she'd really mean any of it. Max knew how valuable Logan was to her and how he had been there for her since day one. She couldn't understand why her mind was throwing it all back at him when her heart was torn in the opposite direction.   
  
"You mean Alec?" Logan scoffed. "I'm sorry, Max, but I draw the line at that punk. He'd probably grab the papers and sell them on to the highest bidder. No thanks."  
  
The mere mention of her fellow X-5s name was like a punch to Max's stomach. It made her insides feel like someone had balled them all up tight until she could barely breath. She said meekly, "Well, you don't have anything to worry about on that score. Alec's gone."   
  
Logan's mouth dropped open in a silent revelation. "Aah. That explains it."  
  
Max was instantly on the defensive. "Explains what?"  
  
"Your foul mood." She shot him a poisonous look, but he wasn't going to back down. "Come on, Max. You come over here and barely say five words all evening. You argue with me over trivia and now this comes out."  
  
"It's just Alec. It doesn't mean anything."  
  
"If it doesn't mean anything, why did it take you so long to tell me? Come on, Max. You know you can talk to me." Logan didn't want to push her harder than she was probably pushing herself but some things had to be aired in the open. As much as he hated to admit it, Logan had more than a personal investment in helping Max clear her conscience. The circumstances of Alec's disappearance from the scene could be good or bad, they could have huge repercussions on the future. As Eyes Only, Logan had a duty to make sure he had all the information. Max keeping facts from him was dangerous for everyone.   
  
Luckily for him, Max didn't snap back at him or storm out of the penthouse. She sat quietly for a moment, her fingers running lightly over the buttons of the remote control. Her last heated conversation with Alec repeated itself over and over again in her mind. She couldn't shake it, only relive it in bright technicolour. He had bungled yet another operation, just a simple heist for two experienced cat burglars. The police had been on the tail before they had even got halfway down the street from the victim's mansion.   
  
They had both said things, the argument swinging back and forth as the verbal abuse got increasingly extreme. She had catalogued the number of times he had mucked up and he had rallied back with how often he had saved her 'sorry ass'. Finally, it had come to blows. Max had won and that's when she had crossed the line. "You don't mean anything to this mission, Alec. Ever since you left Manticore, you've done nothing but create havoc. Worst of all, you're a traitor."   
  
"It's complicated."  
  
Logan stiffened, involuntarily. "I thought things between you and Alec were clear as crystal."  
  
Max's head snapped up to meet his unwavering gaze. She knew what he was thinking, that there was more to her relationship with her fellow X-5 than she was letting on. She didn't want to admit that maybe he was right. There had been so few people in her life that Max had genuinely lain awake at night worrying about. Zach, Logan. Her relationship with both had grown increasingly complicated over time. Would it be the same with Alec? Had her feelings for him already overgrown the acquaintance barrier she had put up? If only she could keep him firmly in the Manticore information section of her mind, cordon him off in the place she had sanitised to be emotion-free. "I know. So did I...but I said some pretty awful things to him."  
  
Logan could feel the guilt emanating from her. It seemed incongruous that a perfect killing machine should have such strong emotions, should feel the weight of the world on her shoulders. Life should be simple to a soldier - follow the rules. "Alec can give as good as he gets, Max. I'm sure..."  
  
Max shook her head, her eyebrows drawing together in self-reproach. "It was worse than that. I called him a traitor. I told him I never wanted to see him again, that this mission didn't need him." Dark brown eyes met piercing blue for a moment, "I told him I didn't need him."  
  
Logan swallowed, his throat suddenly dry and chalky. He tried to process this information. It was no big deal to him that Alec had taken off and he wasn't even convinced that 494 was truly as cut to the quick as Max would have him believe. Alec was as tough as nails and he'd proven it time and again. He'd spring up sooner or later with another scam. No, what truly worried Eyes Only was the reaction displayed in Max. This was a woman he loved with every ounce of his body. Despite all the hurdles they had jumped, the number of times he had fallen, Max still wanted him. Even now, through the stilted conversations they were cornered into since the virus, the electricity between them was tangible. Could Alec really tear that apart? He didn't know what to say. He needed to hear reassurance from her. "Max, am I missing something here?"  
  
Max frowned, pulled from a reverie that had taken her far from him. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Nothing," Logan whispered. Maybe he didn't need to hear the words after all. It was clear to him that Max's reaction to Alec's absence had changed since last time the X-5 had disappeared. "I'm sure he'll show up again." The words sounded as hollow as the intent behind them but Logan had no control over his responses anymore. It were as if he were talking through a mile of tube, his words divorced from the brain forming them.  
  
"I don't think so," was all Max said in response. The pair sat in silence for some time, both lost in their own private melancholy until Max finally stood up. "I should go."   
  
She stood to leave and Logan almost reached out to catch her arm before remembering better and letting his hand drop to his side. Besides, he knew he couldn't keep Max against her will, no matter how much his heart yearned to do so.  
  
**********  
  
Alec had been conscious for the better part of an hour, well, semi-conscious perhaps. Whatever drugs they were pumping into his system were more than Manticore had ever prepared him for. Still, good ol' Lydecker probably hadn't envisaged any of his perfect soldiers getting themselves locked up in a mental institute. The nurses and orderlies had come for him about fifteen minutes ago in the X-5's estimation. At first, foolishly perhaps, Alec had resisted. The primal urges embedded in his brain overrode common sense when he was locked up against his will like this.   
  
He only wished he knew what they had injected him with because if he ever came face to face with Lydecker again, he'd give him a few pointers on how to raise his game in the next X series. The orderly had been quick to pin him against the wall, an act that Alec would never have believed possible until now. In a strange sort of way it gave him momentary insight into what it must be like for some of his victims. Even through the drug-induced haze, he could feel the dull pain of being slammed repeatedly against hard surfaces. A fellow orderly had buckled on the soft, leather restraints that had come to be part of his daily uniform along with the cotton trousers and T-shirt they had given him since arrival.   
  
Belatedly realising the submissive predicament he had found himself in, Alec had no choice but to go along with what the goons had planned for him. As it turned out, it wasn't pretty. It was another meeting with good old Dr. Ford, just in a different setting. This time, there was no plush leather chair or imposing desk, just four white-washed, windowless walls and two chairs in the centre of the room. One housed his new favourite accessory on the arms and legs, once in it, he'd be truly at their mercy. It didn't look good.   
  
The drugs were still clearing from his body and Alec was starting to feel a bit nauseous as the orderly roughly manhandled him into the chair. He watched, dumb, as one pair of restraints were replaced with another. Still half registering what the doctors might be up to, Alec was somewhat surprised when Dr. Ford's face appeared directly before his in the chair opposite. The older man looked haggard and tired. Alec hoped it was thanks to the latest inmate. If he couldn't get free by himself, the least he could do was give them hell.  
  
"Christian, as your on-site supervisor, I asked for an opportunity to speak to you first...before this...procedure."  
  
Alec's brow furrowed in sluggish confusion, "Procedure?"  
  
"I have spoken to your therapist who in turn has consulted your regular physician. After conferring, they feel that more drastic measures are necessary to help you come to terms with your illness. They think, they believe that you need to vocalise all the so-called facts about this other life you lead, the one where you exist only as 494."  
  
Alec stared at him, listlessly, a lopsided smile spreading slowly across his lips. "Truth serum won't work...I'm...". He caught himself before he gave any more away. In full control of himself, Alec would never have made such an erroneous statement, but he wasn't in full control. He was under their control. But there was plenty they didn't know about him. He still had an advantage. They didn't believe he was an X-5, so he could tell them anything he liked under medical oath as this truth serum would render him.   
  
Dr. Ford patted his hand in fatherly reassurance. "I wanted you to know that I did everything I could to prevent this, but..." He opened his hands in a gesture of defeat. "...your therapist must have connections beyond my reach. The matter is out of my jurisdiction. I wish there was more I could do. All I can promise is that I'll be here to help you when you get to the other end. Christian, I promise you."  
  
Alec's gaze faltered a little at the man's affection. If he were free to move his limbs, instinct would have made him draw away, but he was forced to endure it. Strange that it this small show of care should quicken his heart more than the prospect of being drugged and interrogated. Finally, the moment ended and Ford stood up, slowly. "Your therapist has asked that he be the only one present, but I'll be back when it's over."  
  
Alec watched the man leave, his gaze levelled at the door with bated breath for the arrival of his so-called 'therapist'. The moment came all too soon. His heart caught in his throat and he breathed, "White?"  
  
Ames White smiled, warmly. "Don't you remember, Christian? We've been through this before. My name is not White, it's Dr. Stern. You have attended therapy with me for several months now. Remember?"  
  
Alec could feel rivulets of sweat beading across his forehead and running cold down his spine. For a fleeting moment, he thought he saw his death ahead of him. "You're going to kill me, aren't you? I have to say, it's not what I'd ever have imagined, a bit elaborate for me. Cowardly enough, though." Alec gestured to his restraints.   
  
White approached his chair with an expression nothing short of concern and placed his hands on either arm of the chair, over Alec's hands. "Christian, I only want to help you. We have been here so many times. You need to reclaim your life. I want to help you do that. This is the last resort. I promise I'll make it as painless as possible." He patted the X-5's arm gently, a pressure Alec could still feel minutes after White had moved to prepare a syringe. What was this? The drugs seemed to be wearing off but this scene was more surreal than anything the drugs had done to him before. It couldn't be real. This man was Ames White. Alec knew it. What kind of game was he playing? He wasn't a therapist. X-5s didn't need therapists, they didn't get sent to mental institutes because they were sent to the basement with nomalies. None of this happened to X-5s. How could it be happening to him? He was an X-5...wasn't he?  
  
White turned back to him, syringe upheld in a gloved hand. "Now, let's get started, shall we?"  
  
**********  
  
END OF PART 4  
  
What did you think? Worth continuing or should I quit while I'm ahead? Please review or I'll never know if you're reading it or just skimming the page for something that's not here!  
  
I've been thinking of speeding things along so Max can find Alec quicker, but I did want to draw out the amount of time he will have spent in this place alone without any possibility of rescue. She will get there eventually though! 


	5. Chapter 5

MAKE ME MAD  
By Allegra  
  
See Part 1 for disclaimers etc.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES: To all my lovely reviewers, you are like the most shiny stars in the DA-fic sky! You're always so nice & supportive it just makes me want to write even more.  
MM - Thanks for the long review, it really kick-started me finishing this part. No, Alec didn't slash his own wrists but everything will come together when Max finds him & tries to put the pieces together.  
Lynn - Your review made me feel so relieved that I was conveying the right atmosphere in my fic. Thank you for the kind words :)  
Jenn - All that talk of Alec's "lovely ass" as you put it just made me want to write even more!  
JG - Wow, maybe you should finish the story yourself 'coz that sounds like a good ending. Just let me torture 494 a little bit more!!  
  
**********  
  
PART 5  
  
**********  
  
Max had been nursing a jug of beer for the past half hour and was getting through the nectar quicker than even she felt comfortable with. What was it the familiars were always saying about drowning sorrows? A drunken state was something the transgenic could only imagine and dream about. In that moment, she would have given her right arm for a train of thought that didn't always lead back to a certain X-5 she had recently kicked out of the city.  
  
In any other circumstance, Max would have believed Alec was still lurking somewhere nearby, hatching some other get-rich-quick scheme that bettered no one but himself. But these weren't other circumstances. She had torn strips off him, some necessary, others a bit below the belt. The lasting image in her mind was of the strange, hollow expression he had worn on his face just before he'd left. It was a look Max would never have believed possible on a transgenic's face if she hadn't seen it for herself. Defeat.  
  
"Hey, Max." Her fellow Jam Pony messenger, Sketchy, sat down in a chair beside her, pushing long strands of hair out his face with a pair of sunglasses. He flung his backpack down and rummaged around for his wallet. "You want some nachos?"  
  
Max shook her head, mutely. Normally, she'd be grateful for some company, and she knew it was what she needed right now, but part of her just couldn't muster up any enthusiasm for chatting. Sketchy shrugged, "Suit yourself," and headed off in the direction of the bar.  
  
He was quickly replaced by the ever-sassy Original Cindy. "Hey, boo. You want to talk about it?" With her usual speed, Max's friend had sussed out her general mood with uncanny accuracy. "Your boy'll be back, you know. He's not the kind to hang loose for long. Besides, Jam Pony is his sector pass heaven and he ain't gonna find a gig that loves him as much as Normal."  
  
Max poured herself another pint from the beer jug. "I know, and any other day I'd go with you on that, but...not today." She sent a pleading look in her friend's direction, sorely wishing OC would have something to say that could allay her worries.  
  
"What say you an' I hit the circuit tonight, get that fine ass of yours on the dance floor?"  
  
Max pouted, "Nah. I just don't feel like partying right now."  
  
OC shook her head and scavenged a glass of beer from the pitcher. "That's exactly why you gotta go with me, boo. You need to find your party shoes, know what I mean? I mean, this pitcher's goin' down faster than Sketchy's chat-up line. I'm gettin' worried about ya."  
  
Max forced a smile to her lips. "You're a good friend, OC. Maybe you're right."  
  
OC leaned on her elbows across the table, lowering her voice and staring her friend straight in the eye. "But, you know, it's gotta be said, your concern for the boy is starting to give you away."  
  
Max frowned in confusion, "What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, the last guy you moped this much about could have been the love of your life if it weren't for that pesky little virus."  
  
Max dismissed the analysis with a raised eyebrow, "So?"  
  
OC raised her hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, maybe you need to look a bit harder at your relationship with Alec. I mean, Logan's the biz if it weren't for Manticore tampering, but a girl can't live on bread alone, boo. There're other fish in the sea for the taking and you hooked a pretty one."  
  
Max couldn't hide the defensive tone in her voice. "Even if you were right, which you're not, I'd say that fish just slipped loose of the net." The brunette glanced up at the shadow coming in their direction and gave OC the eye that meant it was time to pipe down.   
  
Sketchy tossed a large bowl of nachos on the table in front of his companions and jerked a thumb over his shoulder, in the direction of the bar. "There's some chick looking for you, Max. You recognise her?"  
  
Max craned her neck past him to a bewildered girl leaning uncomfortably against the edge of the bar, warding off unwanted advances. Her blonde hair was scraped back in a pony tail since the last time Max had seen her, but the face was memorable enough. It was one of the X5s from Manticore. They had met briefly through Alec way back when White was trying to dupe the transgenics back with the intention of destroying them. They hadn't talked for long but Max never forgot a face from Manticore. Still, she was wary of what the girl might be seeking. "What does she want?"  
  
Sketchy shrugged, "Wouldn't say. Just asked if you were here, said she needed your help."  
  
Her mind already in soldier mode, Max got up and headed in the direction of the X5, murmuring a word of thanks to Sketchy. The girl visibly straightened when she saw the raven-haired transgenic striding towards her, the vulnerable edge suddenly replaced with the stance of a soldier standing to attention. Max rolled her eyes and grabbed the girl's arm, drawing her aside. "You don't need formalities. We're not in Manticore, remember?" The girl smiled timidly and nodded. Then, as quickly as the soldier in her had arrived, it fled and she seemed like nothing more than a child once more. Max's voice softened, "What's up?" She wasn't one to hand out the good will unless it was truly deserved, preferring the streetwise attitude that had got her through so many scrapes. But when it came to a fellow transgenic, especially one younger than herself, Max knew how to behave like the big sister. "It's Marie, isn't it?"  
  
The girl nodded, shyly. "Yes." She blurted out, "I'm so glad I found you! I didn't know what to do."  
  
Max put a calming hand on her arm and glanced around the joint, hoping nobody was looking in their direction. "Come on, let's take this outside."  
  
Once in the dark alleyway, Max crossed her arms and asked, "So what's this about?"  
  
Marie twisted the ring on her finger, her face etched with worry. "Do you remember 476, I mean Laurie? We were in the same unit at Manticore, she was with me when we left." Max nodded so she continued. "Well, the other night she was taken. We were attacked."  
  
Max frowned with suspicion. "You don't know who it was?" The girl shook her head, fiercely. "And you couldn't fight them off?"   
  
"Negative, I mean, no. They hit me with a prod before I had a chance to do anything."  
  
Max nodded, establishing the details in her head. "Sounds like whoever they were knew what they were up against. Short of using another X5, electric shocks are about the only thing that takes us out these days. Do you have any idea why they might have taken her?"  
  
Marie's smiled, apologetically. "Laurie was just like me. We grew up together. I'd have known."  
  
Max's head was spinning with the possibilities. There were so many people who would give their hide for an X5 hostage - FBI, NSA, bounty hunters, media goons, scientists, not to mention the numerous psychotic freaks who appeared from the woodwork from time to time. "Stay low and keep in touch. I'll see what I can find out. You got someplace to go?"  
  
"Yes. I've got a hideout..."  
  
Max stopped her, "Don't tell me where. Just stay safe. We'll find her, don't worry." The last bit was meant to be reassuring but she was only too familiar with how many times transgenics had lost their lives for the cause.  
  
**********  
  
Alec had spent the better part of what he imagined was the morning listening to the playback of his drug-induced discussion with Agent White. Oops, make that Dr. Stern. The X5 wasn't fooled; Manticore had made their kids of tougher mettle than that. It was going to take a lot more than a load of lies and a sojourn in a mental hospital to break him down. The tape had been twisted somehow. Alec couldn't figure out how, but they must have done it. He didn't say any of those things. Sure, there was a heavy dose of truth but it was peppered with lies that just didn't add up.  
  
For example, White had made him relive his life at Manticore all over again but it was the other part that bothered Alec. In his own voice, he could hear himself talking about an apartment he had never owned, a girlfriend he had recollection of, parents he knew didn't exist. The whole interrogation, or 'session' as the doctors had labelled it, was nothing more than some kind of elaborate hoax. But why? What purpose did it serve? He had seen the doctors conferring with White outside the room, through the crack in the door. Whatever he was telling them, they were buying it and, even secure in the knowledge of his genetic superiority, Alec had felt his heart beat faster at the prospect of what they might do to him.  
  
The nurse administered three injections a day which Alec figured to be some kind of strong sedative concocted by White, perfect to keep a genetically enhanced soldier down. The X5s were hardened to so many drugs, it had to be something made especially for him. At first, Alec had tried to fight it, to prevent them giving him anything that might disable his strength. The plan failed miserably every time - if he wasn't already immobilised by restraints then his escapes were thwarted because he didn't know the building well enough. The tranquilliser darts were enough to bring down an elephant and the young transgenic could imagine the kind of restrictions they'd clamp on him if he made a habit of being difficult. He was already in solitary confinement but there were plenty of 'therapy' rooms he hadn't visited yet and harsher means of keeping him still. Alec wasn't fool enough to make matters worse for himself. It was just a matter of time. He needed to get his bearings and then they wouldn't stand a chance of stopping him. It didn't help matters that every time they took him out of his room, he was dosed to the eyeballs with some drug or other and that the nurse insisted on taking him a different route each time.   
  
The whole situation was maddening - the deceit, the drugs, the condescending nurses, the confusion of not knowing why he was here. Every time the darkness threatened to overtake him, Alec reminded himself that he was a soldier, the best of the best, and that he would get free of this. He had to.  
  
**********  
  
"Logan, I need you to do something for me." Max called out, barely out of the elevator and into the penthouse. She knew he was here, she could hear his fingers tapping over the keyboard with lightning speed.  
  
She rounded the corner of the living room and leaned against the door frame. Logan pulled back from the desk and turned his wheelchair towards her. "What kind of thing?" he asked, suspiciously. It never ceased to surprise Max that, regardless of what situations he sent her into, he was always apprehensive about backing up her own issues.  
  
"An X5 has gone missing. Her friend tracked me down earlier, said someone assaulted them and took off with her. From the sounds of things, these guys knew what they were doing. Can you help?"  
  
Logan nodded, secretly grateful it wasn't going to involve hacking into FBI files for once. He wanted to help and he knew how much Max beat herself up about any of her own kind that went missing. Even though the weight of the world shouldn't rest on her shoulders, he knew she blamed herself for starting the fight for transgenic rights. It had barely started but the deaths were numerous and she had actively tried to save every one of them.  
  
He flicked to the data files on the transgenic records. "If you identify her, I'll make a sweep."  
  
Max smiled sweetly. "Thank you."  
  
"You want some coffee?" Logan offered. Wheeling himself into the kitchen, Logan busied himself with the percolator, whether she wanted coffee or not. He was still feeling a bit beaten after his conversation with Max over Alec's disappearance. He hadn't liked the desperate tone of worry that had permeated her voice. Part of him still had a hang up about his disability, that being unable to walk suddenly made him undesirable to such a physical woman. He compared himself to Alec, to the melancholy image he conjured so easily of Max and Alec together, the couple he and Max could never be. Manticore had seen to that. All he could do for now was keep his distance and hope for the best. Max knew her own mind and nothing he could say or do would deter her from the path she wanted to tread.   
  
**********  
  
Logan had been searching for the better part of ten hours, every missing persons website, police contact, prison database, hospital network. With such a 'human' appearance, he had found plenty of close matches but all his investigations had proven useless. He wished there were more he could do to help Max. Now more than ever he wanted to appease her, to remind her what a good team they made. He wanted her to have a reason to rely on him for something. Lately, she had been absorbed in so many other activities, Logan was starting to get paranoid that Max didn't need him anymore.  
  
Amazing that, even in his absence, Alec still stood between the pair. He had been the instrument of keeping Max and Logan apart with the virus and now he was keeping them apart in both heart and mind. Max seemed even further away from him than she had before.  
  
"How's it going?" Max enquired from her position on the sofa. She had been staring vacantly out of the penthouse window, enjoying the view of a bustling city without having to be in the middle of it for a change. It was at moments like this that she realised how hectic her routine existence was. She barely stood still for more than a moment, always ready to spring into action. Max figured it was a soldier thing, a fast metabolism and an athleticism that put most humans to shame. But still, even genetically enhanced super-beings needed a bit of down time and coming to Logan's apartment today had been somewhat of a relief. Most of Max's haunts were synonymous with action of some kind and even Logan's penthouse had seen both business and pleasure acted out, but today it was a place to chill. Ironic, considering the tense state of their relationship at this point in time.   
  
Logan paused in his record search and turned to her, pleased to have a reason to look away from the glare of the screen. "Nothing so far." He saw the way Max's face fell into lines of concern and quickly added, "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll get something sooner or later."  
  
"As long as it's not later," Max added, grimly. Her gaze lingered with Logan's for a moment before turning back to the scene of post-Pulse Seattle. Her fellow X5, Laurie, her sister, could be out there anywhere. She could be frightened, hurt, even dead and America suddenly seemed a whole lot larger than Max remembered.  
  
**********  
  
"Christian, we've got someone here to see you." Dr. Ford approached his patient with tender curiosity, hoping to see some kind of interest in what might be in store. Alec had remained passive since the session with his therapist. At first, the young man had showed feistiness which had become a concern for the orderlies and nurses whose job it was to keep him calm. Now, in such a short space of time, his entire demeanour had changed. There was no struggle, no retort to their attempts to engage him in conversation. This was exactly what the elderly doctor had feared - that the truth serum had pushed the poor boy over the edge.   
  
Any trust he might have garnered had been irrevocably destroyed and Christian had retreated back into the only safety zone he knew, his own mind. The whole incident had troubled Ford ever since Dr. Stern had mentioned it. He had known it was a completely unethical procedure and all his instincts had told him there was something amiss in the manner of someone who called himself a psychologist. Yet, Ford's better judgement had left him and he had feebly bowed to a doctor who claimed, quite rightly, to know Christian better. Now, it was too late to make amends. The resident doctor could not apologise or say it was beyond his control. He was as much responsible for this setback as Dr. Stern.  
  
For two nights, he had lain awake racking his brains for a way to bring Christian back to them, to draw him out once more. It had struck him in the small hours of the morning, that Christian needed human contact with the people who featured in his real life rather than the life he had created for himself in this undercover military base.   
  
Surprisingly, Dr. Stern had agreed wholeheartedly with the idea and offered to bring Christian's girlfriend to the facility. Regarding the copious notes on his patient, Ford was happy with this choice. She had clearly stood by her boyfriend through thick and thin, even when he was falling apart. She was the perfect candidate to get through to him if anyone could. Now, she was waiting outside in the corridor, anxiously wringing her hands. Occasionally, her eyes would wander to Dr. Stern as if seeking assurance. To the older doctor, this only sealed the image of a young girl desperate to do whatever it took to bring her lover back to her, unharmed. She was anxious not to say or do anything wrong.  
  
**********  
  
Outside the door to Alec's room, Laurie waited for her performance to begin. She could feel her heart fluttering in her chest; she couldn't remember ever feeling so nervous before in her life. Even at Manticore, during manoeuvres or in the field, she had kept her cool better than this. In the few hours after her abduction from the streets of Seattle, she had honestly believed her life was over, that White was going to kill her as he had others. True, she had been treated cruelly, reminded that he was not a man to be meddled with. Then, he had offered a proposal that she knew he would not let her refuse - to pose as a defective transgenic's girlfriend.  
  
At first, Laurie had been unable to understand why she should be chosen for the assignment out of so many. Surely she hadn't been so much easier to find than any of her kin. But then White had retrieved a dossier on her from Manticore. He had read out her weaknesses first, dwelling on the words which most cut a soldier. Then, he had turned to her strengths, highlighting the fact that she had excelled in psychological offensive strategies - deception.  
  
In spite of her fears when confronted with the boogie man White had become to the escaped transgenics and the instilled training which told her never to question an authority, she still wanted to work for the good of the people. She hesitantly asked what purpose this mission had. White had told her firmly that one of her fellow X5s had defected, just as his genetic twin had, and that he risked exposing the whole of his kind if his story was not proven false. His voice was almost kind when he explained that, in helping him effect his plan, she would be saving all her kindred X-series from possible annihilation.  
  
The questions had formed thick and fast in Laurie's mind at that moment. Why would White be trying to help save them from exposure in this elaborate way when he really wanted them all dead? Then, she looked into his eyes, and could see the reason. He had orders of his own which prevented him from uncovering Manticore's actions and, more to the point, he was a man just cruel enough to want his own reckoning day with the transgenics.  
  
So Laurie had agreed to his terms. She would pose as 494's girlfriend, use every shred of information White had given her on file to make him believe they loved one another, that he had lost his mind. In exchange, White promised her freedom, a 'get out of jail free' card when it was all over. Laurie wanted to believe it so badly, she did.  
  
"Miss, would you like to go in?" Laurie turned to the owner of the low, gruff voice. The white-haired man she recognised as Dr. Ford rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She could feel it trembling a little against the light material of her shirt and the young girl was momentarily aware that it was the first time any human had touched her in kindness. The frailty of human existence still amazed her. It was a miracle they even made it to his age.  
  
Against her will, Laurie's restless gaze rose to meet White's hard, dark eyes. Taking a deep breath, she nodded mutely and stepped through the door of Alec's room.  
  
**********  
  
END OF PART 5  
  
Do you still like? Max should reach Alec next part, promise!! 


	6. Chapter 6

MAKE ME MAD  
By Allegra  
  
See Part One for disclaimers & notes.  
  
Author's Note: Well, since I was being held to my promise (thanks, fichic!) that Max would find Alec this chapter, it's taken a while to get out & it's much longer, too! I was trying to answer a few questions with this chapter as well so I hope I've managed to achieve that & not complicate matters further.  
  
Big thanks to Lynn, Deb, Riley, Zol & Rose85 for such encouraging reviews! You're the best! I hope this part meets expectations. Sorry if it's a little thin on angst, but I needed to shift the plot forward & I'm saving all the emotions for part 7!! Jg - I'm glad you appreciated the Logan characterisation. I'm not sure where I'll take him later in the story. At the moment, he's just a useful wall for Max to bounce things off &, of course, give her information about the lovely Alec's whereabouts.   
  
CHAPTER 6  
  
**********  
  
"It's been two weeks, Logan! How can you still have come up with nothing?" Max could not control the anger in her voice. She didn't believe that Logan might be actually trying to do his best for her. Ever since she had started consorting with her fellow transgenics, hanging with a few of them from time to time, it was as if he didn't care about her anymore. Maybe she was just being paranoid, after all it wasn't like she had been giving him her undivided attention lately either. But Logan and Max's relationship had been built on mutual benefit - he helped her find the other X5 escapees and she did the physical work he couldn't. Now all that had changed. He might still need her help but the times when Max leaned on Logan for support were getting fewer and further between. He knew it and she knew it. It was only a matter of time before the whole partnership fell apart.  
  
Logan peered up at her through narrowed eyes. "I'm sorry if this isn't moving fast enough for you, Max, but I've only got so much information at my fingertips. You know, unless someone puts out a report on the net about a blonde girl with a barcode, then I'm stuck with the usual ports of call." He opened his mouth to continue but stopped short. Why was he explaining himself to her anyway? "Why wouldn't I be doing my best, Max? What are you implying?"  
  
The girl stood with her arms crossed, a picture of defensiveness. Her jaw was tight with determination as she spoke. "This isn't some paper pushing, government bigwig with dirty laundry, Logan. It's my family."  
  
Logan nodded in exasperation. He'd heard this explanation a few times already. "Yes, I know that. I also know that when a transgenic falls off the map it's because somebody wants it that way. That makes it pretty hard to track them down, Max. Now, I'll find Laurie but you'd better keep your attitude in check..."  
  
Max pouted, "Or what, Logan? You gonna beat on my ass?! I don't think so."  
  
Logan took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, wearily. This discussion was becoming increasingly like trying to reason with a stubborn, sulky twelve year old. Whatever was bugging Max was starting to bug him as well. Well, he'd made her mad enough so far so there wouldn't be much harm in digging further. "Is this still about Alec?"  
  
Max paused for a moment as if she had been caught off guard. "No, not at all." She refused to be drawn further into talking about the man Logan probably hated more than anyone else Max could think of. Besides, on a superficial level, this really didn't have anything to do with him. It was about Logan's ineptitude at finding one poor girl. Her temper was shortening rapidly and, with his usual craftiness, Logan had changed the subject. "But I'll tell you what it does have to do with. You! Laurie is out there all alone, probably being tortured!" Max moved closer, standing over where Logan was sitting, taking momentary pleasure from the way he had to tilt his head up towards her.  
  
Logan wasn't going to play. He rolled his chair backwards several inches and replied, steadily. "Max, I'm doing my best...but we can't save everyone." He could see tears welling at the corners of her eyes but Max had put her defences up.  
  
"What if next time they're coming for me?" She held his gaze for a moment, allowing her words to sink in. Logan's face was unreadable and Max didn't want him to see her cry, so she used the speed Manticore had kindly given her and ran away from the situation.  
  
**********  
  
Four hours from the time he had been cheated out of sleep and into the waking world which had become so confusing of late, Alec found himself back in his cell, or room as the nurse called it. If he'd had a mirror, the young man would have been shocked at his own haggard appearance. Red marks on his temples were still just fading from where rubber electrodes had been placed before faceless doctors had sent hundreds of volts surging through his body. At first he had resisted with every fibre of his being, convinced that the Manticore blood which ran in his veins and the faultless body he possessed would save him from harm.   
  
Two weeks ago, he had been able to remember all his training and how to survive them - the tortures an enemy might inflict on a captive. Alec had been sure that he would live through it and perhaps even come out of it almost unscathed. After all, most regular humans had no concept of the flawless creature he was, created in a lab to overpower and bear whatever persecutions they threw at him. Plus, Manticore had been pretty good at dealing it out themselves sometimes and he had suffered that without too much scarring.  
  
But that was two weeks ago and a lot had taken place since then; the rules had changed. The supernatural strength he had been relying on never arrived - he was unable to break the bonds which held him down or throw off even the female nurses who escorted him to sessions with Dr. Ford. The electrotherapy had been worse than Alec could have envisaged in his wildest imagination. At first, he had blamed the drugs they pumped into his system but, as one day dragged into the next and the precise separation of one hour form another became blurred, he wasn't sure. No enhanced strength had bailed him out and now, after fourteen days of intensive therapy, he believed in nothing anymore.   
  
There was the girl they had brought to him over and over, saying her name was Laura and that they had lived together. She had been familiar to him but he had denied knowing her even though he recognised her from Manticore. Back then, he was still playing the role of a soldier, refusing to compromise the safety of the Manticore project's hapless charges by giving anything away. She had cried then, when he had spurned her. Her tears had been so sincere but Alec had played that game, too. He had been Simon Lehane once, an expert piano teacher. No one could have found fault in his performance, for a while anyway. 'Laura' was probably no different. Still, none of it made sense. Why would one of his own kind deny him? Not even help him escape? Give no sign that she was here to rescue him? What were they trying to do to him?  
  
Still, the doctors kept bringing Laura back to Alec every couple of days, in between bouts of questions and emotional pummelling of his mind. Slowly, the lack of anything solid ate away at his sanity. Somewhere in the middle of it all, he had even forgotten his name until Dr. Ford had reminded him. His name was Christian: this was the girl he loved, this was a picture of his absent parents, this was the picture of his apartment. The image of Manticore weakened to fog. Even the barcode he was certain he had borne was non-existent when he was shown in a mirror. Everything was alien to Alec but, as the black hole of his existence grew, he had to start believing in something again.   
  
Dr. Ford had been gentle and had shown the bewildered young man a kindness which Alec could not recall experiencing before. Perhaps he was the man to believe in. He would never get better if he didn't confide in someone. Ford might recover his sanity and piece together the fragments of his life. God knew he couldn't do it by himself.  
  
Now, back in his bed, the swirl of random, detached thoughts roaming his tormented brain swam with broken images. There was a fleeting picture of a young woman with long, dark hair and olive skin. Her eyes were deep brown and soulful as they stared back steadily. For a brief moment, Alec had a feeling that she might have been his saviour but as quickly as she came, she melted away into the ether. Maybe Dr. Ford was as much a figment as this angel. Hope would only lead to disappointment. Nobody could save him. He had lost his mind.  
  
Whether he was finally accepting that fact or whether he was too broken down by his ordeal, Alec felt his emotions returning for the first time in days. Yet, they had been tampered with somehow, muted. He did not feel rage or excitement or any of the heightened emotions he had felt before arriving at Pineview. These were raw at the edges and, before he could find the strength to stop them, Alec found his cheeks damp with tears. Heaving sobs issued from his deep within him, venting forth until exhaustion and sleep claimed him.  
  
**********  
  
Crash was pumping that night but even OC's pleas and jibes weren't enough to keep Max there. The atmosphere went against everything she was feeling. She was tired, stressed and in a generally negative mood which no amount of dancing or drinking would fix.  
  
"Come on, boo! There's boogie-ing to be had. There are plenty of guys out there who haven't had the privilege of seeing your booty in red hot action."   
  
Max extricated herself from beneath her friend's arm. "Sorry, OC. I'm beat." Original Cindy opened her mouth to hit her with another onslaught of reasons to stay but Max was spared it by the muted sound of her pager going off. She shrugged, spreading her hands. "What can a girl do? I'm in demand." Ignoring the glossy pout OC was sending her way, Max made her way to the nearest payphone. It was a miracle she made her way through the throngs without pushing hard enough to raise suspicions that she was a mutant from Manticore. Plucking the beeper from the belt of her hipsters, she frowned at the number that came up. It was Logan. Part of her badly wanted to patch things up but the other part of her wasn't ready for the cerebral work it would take to achieve.  
  
Still, he wouldn't page her for a social chat, so maybe he'd turned something up on Laurie. Max quickly punched in his number and listened to it ring a couple of times. She tapped her foot impatiently. If he was at his desk to page her, why wasn't he picking up first ring?  
  
"Max?"  
  
"Yep." She hadn't intended her response to sound so frosty and she quickly added, "What's up?" She could hear Logan typing in the background and he had that distant sound in his voice that he always had when he was multi-tasking.  
  
"Can you come over here?" It was obvious from the sheer volume of the music that Max was at Crash or some other bar, so he hoped she wouldn't decline. Surely she wouldn't think him that naïve as to not recognise the sound of a girl having fun without him.  
  
Max paused for a moment, then glanced back at the vibrant scene around her. She didn't want to stay here because she was depressed and Logan was part of the reason she was feeling depressed so going over to his penthouse might go a small way to alleviating that. It was a long train of thought to follow but Max knew she'd have to face him sooner or later. "Fine. I'll be there asap."  
  
She slammed the receiver back in its cradle and shoved her way mercilessly back to where Original Cindy was busy digging her claws into a hot chick standing alone at the bar. "I gotta blaze. See you later." She winked at the young girl who seemed completely bemused by the whole situation and directed her feet towards the rear door.  
  
**********  
  
"What you got?" Max stood in the doorway, uncertain how welcome she was in Logan's apartment right now. Was this evening going to be just work or pleasure, too?   
  
Logan sensed her discomfort and knew the way to settle Max down was to talk about neutral topics i.e. business. Having said that, the two had grown surprisingly similar these days and he wasn't sure which line of discussion would offend her more. "I haven't been able to turn up anything on Laurie's whereabouts. I'm sorry."  
  
Max shrugged, accustomed to bad news. "So? You brought me here just to tell me that? It's nothing new."  
  
Logan turned his head back to the computer screen and tapped a few keys, bringing up a map of an industrial region outside Seattle. "But...I found something else. Take a look at this." He rapped the glass with one finger and Max moved carefully round beside him, being careful not to get too close.   
  
"What am I looking at?" she enquired, impatiently.  
  
"This is an industrial estate on the outskirts of the city. An unidentified company has bought this whole block," he said, circling an area of three large buildings with his hand. "I've tried every source I know and there's nothing on who they are or what's in there."  
  
Max let a wicked smile cross her lips. "Maybe you're losing your touch."  
  
Logan offered an amused smile in return but chose to ignore the comment. "It's an old pharmaceutical property, used for manufacturing a lot of typical hospital drugs - morphine, tylenol, barbituates. Anyway, the company was bought up two days before Marie claims Laurie disappeared."  
  
Max raised a sceptical eyebrow, "That's it? And you think the two are connected? Businesses change hands every day in this city since the Pulse. What makes you think this is anything other than coincidental?"  
  
Logan pulled a wry face. "I know it's a shot in the dark but it's the best I've got. Besides, I like to keep my databases up-to-date. I mean, a place that size? Someone could be building a new Manticore unit right under our noses." Max flashed him an unimpressed look and Logan felt his even temper start to boil over again. She had been behaving like a complete bitch to him ever since Alec went missing and he was damned if he was going to be kicked like a dog anymore. "Look, Max. I'm getting really tired of this game. I spend days busting a gut trying to haul up information on one of your 'family' members and then I ring you only to find you're partying the night away down at Crash! Now, I don't know what's eating you, although I can guess, but whatever it is - get over it. I'm done being given the evil eye."  
  
Max seemed genuinely surprised by his sudden outburst and she regarded him blankly for a moment. Then a range of emotions paraded across her face - indignation, irritation, anger and finally sorrow. She didn't want to fight with Logan. "I know. I'm sorry, Logan. I just, I'm angry at myself really. I'm angry that I sent Alec away and I'm angry that I can't do any of this all by myself. I started screwing up the moment I left Manticore. Now, more of the transgenics have bled into society and they keep coming to me. It's made me realise what a figure of hope I've become to them. It's like I'm their leader, their saviour." Tears began to form in her eyes and she swiped angrily at them.   
  
Backing away from Logan's chair, she leaned against the wall, staring vacantly into space. "I always thought I was strong, stronger than anyone else. But I don't think I am anymore." The tremor in her voice was growing harder to control and Max instinctively wrapped her arms around herself as she slid down the wall and drew her knees up. "I can't do this. I mean, I was a soldier once, I didn't have to feel anything other than injustice. But now, it's like I have too many emotions. I don't know what to do with them. I just hurt people with them."  
  
Logan's brow furrowed in concern. "No, Max. That's not true."  
  
Max sobbed, "Isn't it? Look what I did to Alec. I thought he didn't even have a heart and somehow I managed to break it. You should have seen the look on his face, Logan." When the older man caught her gaze, all he saw was deep loneliness and anguish. "I never knew words were such a powerful weapon...and now I can't take it back...and I don't want to be the leader." The words tumbled out between sobs, selfishly absorbed in her own pain.  
  
Logan moved to comfort her, to instinctively put his arms around her. His arms reached out for her and, even as she sobbed, Max jerked away from him. She pulled herself up and backed towards the door. "Be careful! I might kill you, too." She sounded so wounded and Logan desperately searched for words to make everything all right but there were none. And then she was gone.  
  
**********  
  
Back at her apartment, Max had vented her tears in solitude. She was grateful that there was no one to hear her pour out the weakness in her. Then, she had felt warm arms around her and turned to see Original Cindy beside the bed. "Hey, boo. You okay?"  
  
Max took the tissue her friend was offering and dabbed at her swollen eyes. "Thanks." She took a deep breath and was relieved to find the shakiness had gone. "Yeah, I'm okay. I guess I just needed to let it out."  
  
"Well, if you're done with the tears, one of your boys is here to see you." OC stabbed a thumb in the direction of the living room. For a fleeting moment, Max wondered if Alec was out there, but after what she'd said, it was unlikely she'd be his first port of call unless it was to kill her. She was not kept in suspense for long. Logan's head appeared around the door and he walked in, gingerly. Whether it was the mechanical armour holding his useless legs upright or the knowledge that he was in Max's bedroom was unclear.  
  
OC took stock of the situation and decided the leave the pair to it. Logan approached the bed and, with no sign of a chair in the immediate vicinity, remained standing awkwardly. If it weren't for the damned virus, he could be holding her now and telling her everything would be all right. The latter part he could still do standing up but it wouldn't have the same impact. "Max, I couldn't leave things as they were. Are you all right?"  
  
Max nodded, "Yeah, I'm swell. I guess a girl's just gotta let loose sometimes. Sorry you had to be there for it."  
  
Logan smiled wanly. He could tell the wall of indifference had been replaced, intact once more. "I'm glad I was." He had thought long and hard about the contributing factors to the young woman's misery and the conclusion had been a difficult one to accept. "Listen, would it help if I tried to find Alec for you?" There. He'd said it and he couldn't take it back now. The only hope would be if Max declined. He regarded her intently, waiting with bated breath for a response.  
  
Finally, she spoke. "Thanks, Logan, but I think we've got more important things to worry about. I'm sure you're right - Alec can take care of himself. He's a survivor, but..." She caught Logan's wary expression and added softly, "...if you could just keep your ear to the ground. I'd like to know he's, you know, okay."  
  
Logan nodded. "Sure." He wasn't quite sure what to say now. The whole conversation he had played out in his head on the way over was finished with and, since he couldn't touch her, conversation always had to be steered back towards business. He had never been given the chance to check that Max was willing to check out the newly acquired lot on north east side of Seattle. It hardly seemed right to ask now. Fortunately for Logan, he didn't have to.  
  
"And to say a bigger sorry for dumping on you, I'll go on your little recon mission...if you still want me to." Max gave him a warm smile. She was actually grateful to have an assignment because it kept her mind clear. The cold air whipping in her face and a hunk of metal between her toned legs together with speed and purpose was exactly what she needed.   
  
**********  
  
Ames White wasn't accustomed to being told to account for his actions and his resentment was no less prolific on this occasion. Who did those suits think he was? He knew how serious his assignment was, probably more than they did. They simply hid behind their big desks, throwing out orders right, left and centre. The NSA wanted him to do their bidding but they didn't want any mess to lead back to them.   
  
Still, the Conclave had made it clear that they wanted him to retain his job because, ultimately, the NSA achieved a mutual goal for the breeding cult. So, it was with affected indifference and dragging feet that Ames made his way up the steps to the entrance of the NSA headquarters. At least he wasn't being asked to report to some local branch manned by a bunch of doughnut toting layabouts.   
  
"Agent White? If you'd like to follow me..." The young secretary gave him a patronising smile and Ames felt his jaw tense with annoyance. He briefly wondered how many others might have felt the same when he smiled at them.   
  
"Ah, Ames. It's good to see you." Assistant Director Hans Fredericks, a stout, elderly man, proffered a hand which White shook graciously in spite of himself.  
  
"I wish I could say the same." AD Fredericks looked up at him, cagily. Ames added, coldly. "I take my job seriously, sir, and any time here means things aren't getting done at the coal face." He forced a smile to his lips but he could tell that the point had hit home.  
  
The elder man cleared his throat uncertainly. Ames suppressed the satisfied grin which threatened to spread across his face. There was nothing like getting one over on a superior. He had been given no reason to respect them beyond a couple of letters before their names. He had always earned the respect of those under him, albeit by being ruthless and uncompromising, but it brought results. White despised these stuffy bigwigs who picked up a pay cheque three times the size of his own for doing nothing.  
  
"Yes, I'm sorry that you were brought here, Agent White. Protocol, I'm afraid," Hans replied, composing himself once more. "With such a sensitive case and you as our only operative with full intel..., well, you understand."  
  
Ames nodded, "I understand. You want feedback." He desisted from enquiring why the NSA couldn't send someone out to see him instead of whistling for him like a lap dog when he was out risking his life daily. He had moved from one scuzzy hotel to another, putting up with stale smelling laundry and soiled carpets in the name of hunting down these damned Manticore mutants. Sure, he'd had a wife and a kid in a nice, respectable middle-class home, but...well, that was complicated. The 'family' was secondary to his purpose and sometimes his purpose took him the seedier route.  
  
"So, how are matters progressing, Agent White?" Fredericks' tone was casual but he unscrewed the lid of his fountain pen with careful deliberation, poised to write.  
  
Ames felt the bile rising in his throat, disgust at being treated with such...mistrust. He understood only too well why he had been called here. The NSA believed the mission to be too great for one man and his team. They wanted him on a short leash but, given the scattered nature of the case, that was out of the question. So, they brought him in like a graduate trainee who had committed some minor infraction. Worse still, now they were going to make notes to cover their backs and use against him later.  
  
They could easily trawl through the paperwork his team sent back but that wasn't the point of this little game. White knew he had garnered a reputation as a Machiavellian character. For that reason, he was both perfect and a liability for the case. Every so often, he had to be reminded of his place, that he was still part of the 'team', that he was not beyond the long arm of the law.  
  
Taking a deep breath, he launched into his report. "The patient has responded well to treatment and there have been no physical complications. The data has been stored successfully and there don't appear to be any adverse side-effects."  
  
"And his claims about the Manticore Project?"  
  
"Have been dismissed as a psychological imbalance. The industrial plant you kindly bequeathed to me, not to mention its technicians, have been invaluable in maintaining the patient's status as...pliable. With a few traces of his old life added to the mix, we've managed to turn X5-494 into your average loon." Ames laughed at the thought of what that animal had to look forward to for the rest of his natural life. It was poetic - moulded into life by Manticore and moulded into living death by him.  
  
Fredericks, excluded from the joke, continued his line of questioning. "So there is no danger of him...?" He twirled his pen in the air as if he were searching for the words.  
  
Ames finished for him. "Escaping? Absolutely not. His daily meds intake is the iron padlock. The doctors and nurses have been informed of his thrice daily prescriptions. All we need to do is ensure it isn't disrupted. I'd suggest a check-up every month, maybe more to start with."  
  
The Assistant Director scribbled a few notes, then interlaced his fingers and leaned slowly across the table. "And here comes the crunch, Agent White. As you are well aware, this entire project pivots around the security of the information in this X5's brain. If we wipe out every other transgenic we can get our hands on, it is vital that there be one example as it were. He is our example, the blue print...just in case. You understand?"  
  
"Fully," Ames replied. "Just in case." Just in case they chose to rebuild their whole damned army and the Conclave would be back at square one. But that was another hurdle for another time.  
  
"So you can assure me, with one hundred percent certainty, that X5-494 is no threat to himself or that this presumably high dosage of drugs is not enough to damage the data stored inside him?" Fredericks' voice had taken on a severe, determined tone. The stakes were high. Without 494, and the remaining transgenics neatly disposed of, they would have nothing left to go on, nothing left to dissect.  
  
"Absolutely. One hundred percent," Ames lied. He couldn't care less if the transgenic trash died tomorrow, although it might get him fired.   
  
The older man sighed, made a few last notes and then looked up. "It's such a shame that X5-452 was already eliminated."  
  
Ames froze. "Why?"  
  
"Well, she would have been by far a better candidate - no junk DNA, the superior X5. You took her out yourself, isn't that correct?"  
  
"Yes, that's correct," White lied for the second time. In some ways, Max was working with him simply by keeping her head down. He had known for a long time that the NSA wanted her alive, but Ames had a personal agenda to keep. He wanted Max dead...more than anything else. He just had to wait for the right moment. Besides, 494 seemed to be the next best thing. These damned suits should be grateful he'd done so much dirty work for them anyway.  
  
Fredericks stood up and offered his hand once more. "Well, thank you, Agent White. I presume I can rely on you to keep things in order at your end then."   
  
Great, Ames thought. Is that all the thanks I get? An inquisition and the resentment that he hadn't got a better sample? And the actions the AD so easily categorised as 'things' was murder. Now that everything with 494, or Christian Hastings, was under control, the real business of wiping out any other trace of Manticore would be undertaken with relish. "Thank you, sir," he replied.  
  
**********  
  
Max skirted the building complex gracefully and stealthily, her feline DNA doing Lydecker proud. It was a shame he missed out on so many of his X5's exploits. After all, training was training and real combat was, well, exactly that. It was random, making full use of everything she had been told about acting in the field, using whatever she could to effect an escape or get a result.   
  
Way back when Max and Logan had first met, part of her reason for not wanting to get involved with his underground justice system was because she didn't want to become the soldier Lydecker trained her to be. Since the escape from Manticore in '09, Max had wanted nothing more than to lay low and, more importantly, live like a normal human being (aside from a little Manticore-juiced cat burgling). That plan had kind of backfired on her and here she was - the dark angel of justice and protection.   
  
Skulking round the backs of security and breaking into private property had become a run-of-the-mill occupation but at least she was good at it. It saved a lot of ugly encounters that would land her in prison if she didn't have super strength. Tonight was no different.  
  
Puddles of muddy rain water filled the pot holes in the old tarmac and a strong wind was starting to rise, whipping at Max's face and hair as she slid along the walls around the outhouses. Keeping her back against the concrete infrastructure, her eyes darted watchfully around for any signs of movement. So far, she had picked three locks and come up with nothing more than a bunch of old pharmaceutical by-products. Those had just been smaller storage buildings where Max hadn't expected to find anything much.  
  
This was the big mother though, the finale, for which the young transgenic was very grateful. She hated being out in the cold, especially with the wind lashing against her face, unless she was on her Ninja. Logan had earned her help today but, in return, Max was expecting the offer of a nice, hot bath in the penthouse...alone.  
  
"Bingo!" she whispered, noticing a window high up on the side of the edifice left idly open. They must have figured nobody would be scaling the walls out here, but they didn't bank on a genetically enhanced mutant. Max allowed her keen vision to home in on the small target, carefully judging the distance. Then, like some supernatural wraith, she jumped. If anyone had been there to see it, the spectacle would have seemed near impossible. The lithe, muscular legs bent at the knees before jumping a ridiculous twenty foot where slender arms gripped the tiny window ledge.  
  
Max slithered elegantly through the hole before landing unceremoniously on the concrete floor. She quickly surveyed the situation and weighed up her potential escape routes should anyone turn up unexpectedly. Her landing place was a balcony walkway running the whole length of the building with stairs at either end. The walls were lined with shelves of cardboard boxes. Max carefully opened one lid after another - more drugs of various kinds, mainly hospital fare. Some were marked hazardous material and there were several shelves worth of what appeared to be core substances ready for composition. Max thought nothing of it. After all, Logan had declared this site a recent purchase. Chances were the owners hadn't shifted the debris from the building's former life.   
  
Of course, the thief in her still reared its head every now and again, so Max couldn't help wondering that if this convenient window were left open permanently, she could fence these goods for herself. In fact, the owners would probably be grateful to be rid of it. Happily rationalising the whole scenario in her head, Max crept further along the walkway.  
  
Suddenly, she stopped short, recognising the distinct mumble of human voices below. Max instinctively crouched beside the railings and peered over the ledge down into the centre of the warehouse. Two men and a woman were talking quietly. The transgenic's heart skipped a beat when the girl turned around, her blonde hair swinging round her face as she whirled on the two men. Max recognised her as Laurie, the very girl they had been looking for all this time. The two men were dressed ominously in suits and it sent a shudder down her spine as she recalled White and his drones.  
  
"You told me I'd get my money today! It's been weeks and I'm not going to keep doing this if you fuck me around!" Laurie's voice was high and shrill, but Max recognised the tension in it. She might be playing tough but it was clear to her fellow X5 that she was scared as hell. Max's first instinct was to leap down and help her, but her head told her to wait. Whatever Laurie had got herself into, it sounded voluntary.   
  
From Marie's description of the attack, her aggressors had known exactly what to do to bring down an X5. As far as Max knew, Laurie didn't have access to anything specific that bounty hunters might want. Of course, she might be wrong but it looked to Max as if this girl was nothing more than a pawn in a much larger game. In that case, she needed to keep tabs on Laurie and find out where it led.  
  
One of the men produced a prod and gave Laurie a nudge with it, blue electric feelers surging out of its tip and making contact with her stomach. The girl cried out and doubled over, giving one of her companions a chance to make his move. He gripped her hard by the hair and wrenched her face up to meet his. "Listen to me. You'll do whatever you're asked to because you don't have a choice. You have one more mission, then you go free. So stop yanking our chains and do your job!" Laurie nodded her head, violently.   
  
Even from her high vantage point, Max could see the girl was shaking. A frown crossed her face and she murmured, "What have you got yourself into, girl?"   
  
Down below, the man straightened his tie and jacket, then eyed his victim carefully. "Be back at Pineview for a three o'clock appointment tomorrow. Don't be late." Certain that the threat had been heeded, the two men pushed her roughly towards the door.  
  
Max whispered to herself, "I'll be there." Waiting until she heard the firm click of doors being locked, she took one last cursive glance around and swung her legs over the railings. Choosing an appropriate landing spot, she jumped the twenty foot drop onto the hard floor. What she saw was a surprise even to her. What had appeared to be nothing more than storage space, suddenly took a turn into more of a laboratory. Behind piles of boxes, there was a glass partition. Max ensured there were no 'danger' signs worth worrying about and ducked into the enclosed space.  
  
Equipment was set up on every table, gas taps and bunsen burners hooked up from recent use. Max was no scientist but she had seen similar set-ups back at Manticore. She moved quickly, turning bottles round and making mental notes of the labels. Time was of the essence during a break and enter, especially if a certain NSA operative was really behind it. At the end of the conveyer belt of distillation and preparation, Max found three half-filled boxes which all appeared to contain the same kind of pill bottles.  
  
She pulled one out and her breath caught in her throat. "Tryptophan?"  
  
**********  
  
"Logan, it's me." Max pulled the phone booth door closed and dug deeper into her pockets, hoping she had stashed enough quarters to avoid being cut off.  
  
"Max, how did it go?"   
  
"You wouldn't believe what I found. That old place was chock full of pharmaceutical products, except for one thing. They've got a lab there - making tryptophan. Plus, I saw Laurie there. I don't know what's going down yet but it was clear she's being played, Logan."  
  
"What's your gut feeling?" Logan asked, his stomach already recoiling at the prospect of another run-in with agencies knowledgeable in all things Manticorian. It was never pretty and always merciless. The worst part was, Max took it on herself to helm each assault.  
  
Max sighed, staring at the raindrops dribbling down the glass. "I don't know. The suits looked like White's men but I couldn't say for sure. What I can say is that Laurie's waded in too deep. They were bribing her for something, something bigger than she knows. Anyway, I've got a lead for tomorrow so I'll chase it up. Can you check out some place called Pineview?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Logan knew she was about to hang up and quickly added, "Max, be careful. If you're right about White being involved, things could get pretty nasty." Now the paperwork was done and the computer hacking finished, legwork was the next step and that was a department in which Eyes Only was useless. All he could do was pray that she made it out of wherever she was going in one piece.  
  
**********  
  
Max had barely slept all night, her thoughts dwelling intently on the three o'clock meeting. Logan had promised to ring her about the location of this meeting first thing in the morning. She had spent hours watching for the first light of dawn come creeping across the horizon, wondering what constituted 'first thing' to her friend.   
  
Finally, the phone rang and Max was on it in a flash. "Logan?"  
  
The tired voice on the other end told her that he had been working on this for a while. "It's a mental institution."  
  
Max frowned, puzzled. "What would White want with a place like that?"  
  
"I don't know but it was pretty hard to find. It's the kind of place people want to forget about and ignore. Most of it's patients are permanent residents there, completely comatose in many cases."  
  
Max nodded, beginning to understand. "The kind of place families can forget they had a nutcase, huh? Sounds pretty harsh."  
  
"Yeah, but a perfect cover for someone trying to avoid detection."  
  
"Give me the address," Max demanded. Something in her had just snapped. She was sick of watching her back for the likes of White and his cronies. Add that to the fact that he was just twisted enough to use other people's psychological health problems to aid his sordid little projects pushed the transgenic over the edge. He was going to pay this time.   
  
"Max, what are you going to do?" Logan insisted.  
  
"This time, he's not going to take us by surprise. I'm going to beat him before he's even begun. Give me the address, Logan." Hearing the determined tone in her voice, Logan knew she was serious. Reading out the address, he was instantly rewarded with the click of a dead phone line.  
  
**********  
  
The forest thickened and the road began to narrow. Dead branches were scattered across the unkempt tarmac, revealing the route's lack of use and gradually the road signs slackened off until forestry commission warnings were the only remaining notices in view. Max had ditched her customary figure-hugging leather jacket in favour of a waterproof anorak. It wasn't the most fashionable of attire but it kept the torrential rain at bay.  
  
She had been driving for nearly five miles off the beaten track and was just starting to question Logan's navigation when a wooden, Dutch colonial style building came into view. It certainly didn't look like the kind of state-of-the-art facility someone like White would want to take over. Still, as she stowed her Ninja behind some trees, Max could clearly make out the sign saying 'Welcome to Pineview Care Home : A private establishment offering first class accommodation and help at reasonable prices and in beautiful surroundings'.   
  
Max took a moment to adjust her sight and get a good grasp of what she was dealing with. Her dark brown eyes zoomed in through the windows of the building. Two nurses and a couple of administration staff bustled around inside, one leading a dazed inmate while another filled out forms at the desk. At a glance, there didn't appear to be anything amiss and Max wondered whether she wouldn't stand a better chance of gaining entry by just walking through the door with a smile on her face than forcing her way in.  
  
On the other hand, rigorous training had taught her to be on guard at all times when in the field. If White really was behind this, or anyone else out to get the transgenics for that matter, she needed to have the upper hand - the element of surprise. Instead, Max avoided the path and wound her way through the trees towards the rear of the building. There, she was surprised to see another, more secure compound behind the traditional care home. It was on a slope which gave it a shape like a wedge of cheese. The hind section was approximately three storeys high but slowly slimmed down to a single storey before disappearing completely into the ground beneath the wooden home. Much of it was shielded by densely planted fir trees and, together with the camouflaged grey-green colour of the brickwork, it was entirely concealed from the road.  
  
This was more like it, Max thought. The windows all had grates covering them but, despite its military appearance, the security seemed slack. The door was a plain wooden affair - no signs of reinforcement or pass cards to gain entrance. However, that wasn't to say there wouldn't be unseen obstacles to be hurdled on the other side. Max couldn't afford to be trapped out here in the middle of nowhere, even if Logan did know she was there.   
  
Max crouched low in the undergrowth and settled down to watch who came and went. Occasionally, she glanced at her watch to see how close to the time of Laurie's appointment it was. Finally, the little hand rolled round to three and Max drew herself to attention when a taxi rolled up outside. Laurie emerged, a black hood pulled up over her hair but her military gait was instantly recognisable. She drew the hood back as she reached the door of the colonial house and rang the bell.  
  
Max stayed level with the girl, moving up and down the edge of the woods, keeping an eye on Laurie's movements. She watched intently as a nurse escorted her through the building and out of the back door towards the compound. Laurie smiled in appreciation and did not show any signs of a girl who thought she was walking to her death. This made Max rethink the operation.   
  
Her first plan had been to break into the building and spy on whatever distasteful operations were taking place inside. Now, given Laurie's nonchalant attitude, it seemed a better idea to intercept the girl on her way home and question her. Max could easily pound the information out of her if she didn't give it up instantly anyway. So, she waited. She waited for nigh on an hour before Laurie came back out.  
  
This time she was escorted by a man in a suit who took Laurie back to the waiting taxi. Max homed in on the taxi driver, instantly recognising him as one of the men from the previous night. The young transgenic appeared much more agitated than she had an hour earlier and Max returned to her bike, tailing them as quietly as she could for a couple of miles.  
  
They were still at least three miles from the main road when the taxi turned off into a forestry commission opening. Max killed the engine on her bike about one hundred yards back and dismounted. This didn't look good - a single 'wanted' transgenic girl in the middle of nowhere with White's goons, at their mercy. Even before she clambered across the felled tree trunks in her way, Max could hear Laurie's hysterical voice clearly. "I've done everything you asked! Why won't you just let me go?"  
  
A man's voice responded. "You did a great job...and now we don't need you anymore."   
  
Max made a lurch forward. She wouldn't be able to reach Laurie before they pulled the trigger on her, but perhaps if she made enough noise it would distract them in time. Max snapped a branch loudly. Too late. Even with a silencer on, the sound of a gun shot was deafening to Max's sensitive hearing and she even heard the dull thud of Laurie's body hitting the ground.  
  
"Did you hear that?" One of the men moved closer to the tree line, his gun cocked.   
  
The other shrugged, "You haven't been in the wild much, have you? It's probably just a deer or something. Come on, let's get out of here." He wandered back to the taxi and gunned the engine. The other man paused and, from where Max was now lying, she was almost convinced he was staring straight at her. Then, he flicked the safety back on and got back in the car.   
  
Max could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she listened to the car turn back and head back in the direction of Seattle centre. Slowly, she allowed her gaze to return to the limp figure lying on the ground several feet away. Max kicked herself into action and slid down the bank to Laurie and checked for a pulse. As if the pool of blood wasn't proof enough, Laurie was dead.  
  
Max didn't know what to feel. Part of her felt sick to her stomach that White had claimed another X5 life. Then, another part of her couldn't help seeing how close Laurie's predicament resembled Alec's past scrapes. There was that time White sent him to kill other transgenics and retrieve their barcodes. Alec had nearly attacked Max herself and Joshua. It still vaguely disgusted her to think of the fine line he had walked. This could just as easily be him and the image sent a chill down her spine.  
  
Max wondered what had gone wrong in the gene pool that Alec and Laurie would do whatever it took to survive but Zach would shoot himself in the head rather than see her hurt. She shuddered to think what unspeakable acts White might have forced Laurie to carry out on his behalf. What was in that Pineview facility that was so important? There was only one way to find out.   
  
**********  
  
One window grate was no match for a transgenic and Max slid easily onto the second floor corridor. Doors lined the walls, each with a number on it or patient's name. She gently placed an ear against the first door and listened to the incoherent mumblings of a man talking to himself inside. Max tested the door but found it locked. Still, she had a pretty good idea of what she'd find. Making a mental note of his name just in case she was stopped by a staff member, Max made her way further down the corridor.  
  
The place seemed deathly quiet up here, almost eerie. The image of people locked behind each door, caught up in their own tailor-made nightmares was unsettling. Max began to feel a desperate urge to get out. With so many floors and doors, it was impossible to know where to start looking. Logan had mentioned that all their files were kept on paper only so it would be pointless seeking out a computer database to score from.   
  
Finally, Max made it to the stairwell where she peered out to ensure the coast was clear. Then, she ran to the top step and took a hasty look at several doors to assure herself that this was just another floor of madmen. Next, she opted for the first floor. Everything important always happened on the first floor. She was right - therapy rooms, doctors' lounge and offices, nurses' station, unfortunately.   
  
Max was busy dodging members of staff in supply cupboards and behind walls when she heard it. It was a scream unlike anything she could remember hearing, with the exception of Manticore psy-ops. Several orderlies followed the sound and burst into one of the therapy rooms. Max edged closer to the door and peered round it. Nothing could have prepared her for what met her concerned gaze. It felt like a bus had hit her in the gut. Alec.  
  
**********  
  
OK, I know I said she'd find Alec this chapter, so she did...just! Sorry, but the angst wasn't flowing well enough for me today & I didn't want to ruin their moment of being reunited by writing it badly.   
  
A huge thanks to Sorrow Reminisce & Ashantai for their invaluable information on Ames White. If you're reading this, Sorrow, I hope I wrote the White scene OK for you :)  
  
Please, please review or I won't know whether to keep going or leave Alec there forever (hint, hint!!). 


	7. Chapter 7

MAKE ME MAD   
  
By Allegra  
  
See Part 1 for disclaimers etc.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was supposed to start writing this just after I'd watched 'The Berrisford Agenda' for the first time & instead of inspiring me it kind of made me want to watch Jensen when I should be typing. So, sorry for the delay! Big thank you to everyone who has so kindly reviewed this so far. Hopefully, the next part won't be too long coming.  
  
CHAPTER 7  
  
Max could barely believe what she was seeing. She had been prepared for anything - White, Lydecker, FBI, even her own fellow transgenics - but Alec? The thought had never even occurred to her that he would be involved in this somehow. For the first time since Manticore had designed the virus to kill Logan, her private life was inextricably entwined with her work. It was the worst feeling in the world, the knowledge that nothing was safe anymore. She couldn't leave any of it behind for even a moment.  
  
Rooted to the spot in her thinly veiled hiding place, Max watched as a swarm of burly orderlies and nurses grappled with Alec. He was pressed into a corner of the room, his fingers splayed against the plaster as if he hoped to be swallowed up. Max was horrified. She had witnessed several transgenic deaths, all of them different, all of them awful, but the nausea overtaking her had never been as intense as this. Alec was terrified with fear and confusion in his eyes, perhaps even desperation. Those were not the emotions of an X5; even the weakest had never fallen so deep into despair. What had they done to him? It had barely been three weeks since their vicious argument. Who or what could wreak such havoc in his mind so quickly? It didn't make any sense.  
  
Max's brain floundered, trying to force some kind of sense out of the situation but every time logic progressed, her emotions got in the way. For the first time since leaving Manticore, she started to realise why draining the X5s of all feeling must have seemed like a good idea to Lydecker and his team. She was no good to Alec like this. Hell, part of her was angry that he still had the power to affect her so much.  
  
One of the orderlies moved aside from the chair which Alec had been wrestled into, giving Max a clear view of his panic-stricken face. She scoped the vicinity and stepped cautiously from behind the protruding wall. Perhaps if she could get Alec's attention, he might calm down. The fact that she had found him might reassure him that she was going to get him out. Max peered round the door of the therapy room, waving her hand stiffly. Alec was still hysterical, struggling against the orderlies holding him still. One of the doctors was already swabbing his arm ready for an injection which Max figured to be some kind of sedative. If the drug were as quick acting as she suspected, she would have to get his attention fast.   
  
Sure enough, the restless green eyes roved to where she stood. As abruptly as it had started, his ranting ceased and Max swallowed hard. The sudden absence of noise in the room made her feel more conspicuous but she couldn't tear her eyes away from his. Desperately, Max tried to reach past the awful words she had last said to him and convey the message that she would save him. What she saw in his eyes was enough to make her breath catch in her throat. Where there had been a cocky gleam and occasionally a sincere apology, now there was nothing. Max's heart dropped; he didn't know her. They had destroyed everything. The injection was given and Max withdrew to her hiding place, glancing back for a moment. For a split second, she was convinced there had been a flicker of recognition but, fleetingly, it disappeared. He had stopped screaming, though. Did that mean he'd remembered her? That he wasn't afraid anymore?  
  
Max forcibly checked her emotions. There wasn't time for all this deliberating. If she was going to be any use to Alec, she would need a plan and a pretty damn effective one. Logan might know where she was but, essentially, she was on her own. Besides, if White were behind it, she'd be dead long before her friend ever reached the location. Homing in on the details of the room, Max slumped in disappointment. Whoever had built this monstrosity had intended it to be intruder proof. Ventilation was delivered through several tiny holes in the ceiling, nothing substantial enough to crawl through. The window in the door was clearly reinforced and the doors housed both combination and latch key locks. Even if Max got the equipment necessary to break the codes and pick the locks, the number of staff here made the probability of her getting caught pretty high.   
  
Max watched grimly as two orderlies roughly pulled an almost catatonic Alec from the chair and led him towards the door. She quickly pulled her head back and pressed herself hard into the shadowy corner. Hopefully, the men would be too busy minding their charge to notice her conspicuous black garb. She was right but it didn't make her feel any better. More than anything she wanted to leap out and grab Alec, to shake the old smart guy back into existence. He must still be in there somewhere. He had seen Manticore training through to the end; he was made of tough stuff. He was so close to her, almost within reach for her to touch him but Max knew it was too dangerous. She might be able to take out every orderly in the place but if White was truly the mastermind, he would not be fool enough to hold a transgenic without any backup. Even if she did get out with Alec, White would know and God knows what his twisted mind could come up with as punishment. As if these odds didn't stack up pretty hard against her, Alec was dosed up to the eyeballs on a pretty strong concoction. There was no way she could carry him out and get very far. He couldn't sit astride a bike and Max would have a job steadying him. There was just no way she could let her heart lead on this.  
  
She watched, helplessly, as the men steered Alec into the elevator. She had to find out where they were taking him and get out of this place. This building was freaky enough and the unknown could quickly become a trap if Max wasn't careful. She began to build up a mantra in her mind. Cold and clinical, that was the way to approach this. Alec was an objective, a goal. It could only be achieved through disciplined thought and deed. She didn't stand a chance otherwise. More importantly, he didn't stand a chance.   
  
**********  
  
Logan paced the room nervously. He knew Max would be all right, she always was, but nothing could dispel the nagging in his mind that told him trouble was afoot. Normally, when she went off on a recon mission like this, he had got plenty of information to give her - schematics, guard duty shifts, the lot. This time, Max had headed off half cocked with no one but herself and Logan to rely on. She had been gone for hours and he was starting to get worried.  
  
Grabbing the phone, Logan toyed with it in his hand for a while, debating whether to page Max again. It had only been an hour since the last time he had tried; perhaps she was having trouble reaching a phone. Just once more, to put his mind at rest. Logan quickly punched in the number he had learned off by heart and waited for the message receiver to kick in. He left another earnest but not too desperate note and put the phone down.  
  
No sooner had he done so than a shrill beeping could be heard close by. A second later, Max emerged from the elevator, her face wan and her hair dishevelled from the bike ride. If it weren't for the fact that she was standing in front of him, Logan would have feared someone was dead with a face like that.   
  
"Max, what happened?"  
  
She stopped in front of him. "It's Alec. Someone's holding him in that place."  
  
Logan could barely believe it. "Alec?"  
  
Max nodded, mutely. "Logan, you should have seen him...it was awful. I didn't know anyone could do that...to one of us."  
  
"Manticore did a pretty bang up job in psy-ops, didn't they?" Logan pointed out.   
  
"This was different. They were destroying him completely. He didn't even recognise me." She held Logan's gaze for a moment then added, firmly. "I've got to go back."  
  
"Max..."  
  
She interrupted him before he could get another word out. "I need everything you can dig up on this place. I could take out every one of the regular staff but someone wants Alec there for a reason. I can't draw attention to this as a transgenic rescue."  
  
"Max, this is madness. Besides, you're probably right that someone is keeping him there for a reason, but it's going to be pretty obvious a fellow X5 broke him out. Think about it. He's got no family, no one on the outside who would care about his whereabouts except you! Max, this is going to have your barcode stamped all over it!" Logan was clutching at straws. He didn't want her to go on a suicide mission. White's breeding cult could be behind this torture somehow and he was damned if he was going to let the woman he loved go to an early death unnecessarily.   
  
He was torn. Logan knew that Max would take the same radical steps to save his life it was in danger. How could he ask her to leave Alec there? But what would that mean for them? Ever since Alec had entered their lives, Max and Logan had slowly drifted apart. He had brought the virus, she had relied on Alec more and more instead of Eyes Only. Logan knew he could never fulfil Max's needs; he could never truly understand. Alec could. Even when they were at odds, the two transgenics were on fire. Logan couldn't even hold a match to what they had.  
  
Logan watched sadly as Max perused the file he had been gathering for the hundredth time. "Max, you know I've given you everything there. My paper sources don't reach that far. The place is a private care home. None of my medical contacts would know anything."  
  
Max turned to him, her eyes pleading. "Would you just check for me? Please." If she had been able to touch his hand at that moment, she would have done. Max knew only too well how difficult it must be for Logan. He loved her and he didn't like Alec too much. This recipe would probably come out worse for him, no matter which way she tried to paint it.  
  
"I'll try, but..." His voice trailed off, eyes bright and alert.  
  
Max frowned, "What is it? Logan?"  
  
"Well, you may not be able to get in the sneaky Manticore way but you can try it in the old glasses and fake moustache routine."  
  
"I don't follow," Max was too young to get the traditional references, making Logan smile.  
  
"Disguise yourself, just enough to be unrecognisable to anyone with your picture on hand. Then you just go and visit. We know the visiting hours at least. See if you can see Alec. If the worst comes to the worst, you could do a bit of espionage on site - pull some files, get some names, perhaps even see who is behind this."  
  
Max reached out to hug him and Logan pulled away violently. "Max, be careful!"  
  
The smile on her face faded for a second, a rude reminder of the danger she still was to him. Then, her smile returned; this idea was so simple, so not her style that it might just fool anyone awaiting an underground Manticore-trained attack. "You're a god! That's perfect, Logan. You got a wig for me?"  
  
**********  
  
The next morning, Max approached Pineview looking more like a cheap whore than an elite fighting force. The disguise idea had seemed funny back at Logan's apartment but now the reality of what she was doing started to kick in. Max would have felt a great deal safer slipping back in through a window. No matter how simple this idea appeared, the reality was that she was walking into an establishment that she had no more intel on than she had possessed last time and was opening herself to a much more public showdown if it came to that.  
  
On the other hand, there was no better plan. This was her best shot and she was going to do it right. Alec was leaving with her and to hell with the consequences. Adjusting the blonde bob she had acquired through a friend of OC's, Max took a deep breath and climbed the steps to the front entrance.  
  
"Hi, my name's Sheryl Barber. I've just been told a girlfriend of mine that my ex has been committed here. I couldn't believe it." She feigned sorrow, allowing crocodile tears to course down her cheeks. The nurse seemed to be convinced. "Anyway, I was just really hoping to see him. Would that be okay? It's just that we've got unfinished business and I can't help but think maybe...you know," Max sobbed, "...maybe I had something to do with this."  
  
The nurse reached across the desk and rubbed her arm, soothingly. "Oh, honey, don't you cry. Here." She handed Max a tissue and gave her a sympathetic, tender expression which made Max feel even worse that she was duping the poor woman so shamelessly. "Now, honey, what's this boy's name?"  
  
Max's breath caught in her throat and she continued to smother her face with the tissue as she regained control of herself. She couldn't afford to blow the mission when she'd barely made it through the door. "Um, he used to use the name Alec, but he was always changing it. Paranoid, I guess," she added quickly. Inwardly, Max cursed herself for being so naïve. It would take a complete fool to ingest this sob story without smelling a rat. Nurses were always too nosy for their own good.  
  
The nurse studied her, suspiciously. "Honey, are you sure you know someone here? I mean, Pineview isn't exactly the most rare of names round these parts...what with all the pine trees and the views."  
  
Max nodded, vigorously. "I know this all sounds corny, but I promise this is the truth and I'm so sorry for everything I did to him..." Max blew her nose loudly into the tissue and squeezed out a few more tears to match her cracked voice.   
  
The nurse sighed, compassionately, and checked the patient records. "I'm sorry, child, we got no one with that name here. I wish I could help you but I'd be in breach of contract."  
  
Max sobbed, "Oh, please. He's only just got here, so I heard. He's about six feet tall, brown hair, kind of green eyes, in his early twenties..."  
  
The nurse paused at that description. "You mean Christian? He's the most recent patient we've had and he certainly fits all your criteria." Suddenly, she stared intently at Max as if trying to read her intentions. "Are you quite sure you know this boy?"  
  
Max didn't need to put on any act to show how relieved she was to have found Alec. "Yes, I'm quite sure. I'll bet if you let me in to see him, he'd recognise me. I'm just...please, I don't want hurt him or mess him up. I really think I could help, if you just let me see him." Max's pleads took effect immediately and the nurse tapped in an internal number which the transgenic instantly recorded in her photographic memory.   
  
"Hello, Dr. Ford. I've got a young girl here who says she knows Christian, wondering if she could talk with him.... Yes, doctor. I understand that he's had a bad day today but.... Thank you, doctor. Yes, I'll bring her up." The nurse smiled up at Max, the open friendliness in her face sending guilt washing over the girl once more. "He'll see you, honey. I'll take you through."  
  
"Who will see me?" Max asked, even though she'd pretty much got the gist.   
  
"Oh, Dr. Ford is Christian's on site psychiatrist. Young Mr. Hastings has been having a hard time of it since he was brought in. No one gets to see him without permission."  
  
Max nodded and began to feel more confident about probing for information. "Am I his only visitor since he got here?"  
  
The nurse smiled, wanly. "Nearly. Apart from that sweet girl, who I guess is the friend you were talking about?"  
  
Max returned the smile. "Yeah."  
  
"What happened to her? She came by here regular, usually called in every day. I haven't heard from her today."  
  
Max swallowed hard. There were some facts which bore the telling, even if they didn't sound too good. She didn't want to set up any more lies than she had to; they just gave rise to more obstacles to trip over later. "She died...yesterday."  
  
The nurse stopped short along the corridor and clasped one chubby hand to her breast. "Oh, merciful Lord! That's a tragedy. Why, she was standing right here only a day ago."  
  
Max forced a few more tears to her dry eyes but spared the nurse any further details as to the nature of her untimely and wholly unnatural death. "I know. That's part of the reason I'm here. After his girlfriend, I'm the closest friend A...Christian has."  
  
"Here we are, child." The nurse knocked firmly on the door and a muted voice admitted them. Max glanced back down the corridor she had been inspecting closely along the short journey. Her brain absorbed every piece of information as if her life depended on it. Any tiny fragment of this structure might be instrumental later on, like a crime scene. Her brain could play out the whole event with complete accuracy.  
  
"Thank you, Patricia." Dr. Ford said, politely. "I'll take it from here. Please, sit down, Miss...?"  
  
Max took the seat gratefully and shook the doctor's hand. "My name's Miss Barber, but please call me Sheryl."  
  
Dr. Ford returned to his side of the desk and sat down, his eyes barely leaving his guest's face for a second. "So, what is it I can do for you, Sheryl? I hear you have an interest in one of our patients."  
  
"Yes, Christian was a friend of mine...'is' a friend of mine, a very close friend." She emphasised the 'very' with deliberate intent. Noting the doctor's disapproving expression, Max quickly tried to get him back on side. "His girlfriend was killed yesterday and I was very close to them both..."  
  
Ford removed his glasses, betraying the shocked expression in his eyes. "Laurie is dead?"  
  
Max took a deep breath in relief. Finally, she'd got a name. So, Laurie had gone under her 'real' name. At least that was something. "Yes, Laurie confided in me about everything, except what happened to Christian. That is, until she was shot."  
  
"Shot?" The doctor was sounding more shocked by the moment.   
  
Max tried to calm the situation back down and dabbed at her eyes with her tissue once again. "She was caught in the crossfire of a gangland quarrel. I'm sorry...I figured it would be all over the news by now."  
  
Dr. Ford smiled, mildly. "You may have noticed that we're not exactly on the pulse of breaking news up here. I've had a lot on my plate these past few days. The fact is that, if you really do know Christian, then you might make my life a whole lot easier."  
  
Max frowned in confusion. "Sir, doctor, I promise I am who I say I am. When I found out that Christian had been committed here, I could barely believe it. He was, has always been, a very important part of my life. I just want to help him get his life back. Laurie told me that was what she had been trying to do. I just...don't want to see both of them lose their lives so horribly."  
  
Dr. Ford was nobody's fool, that much was clear, but Max could see that he was an honest man, a man who wanted to make a difference in the world, no matter how small. "That's a very selfless approach, Sheryl, a rarity in these cut-throat days."  
  
"Can I see him?" Max inquired. Once again, no acting was required. She was as frightened about seeing Alec for the first time as Laurie must have been. She had no idea what to expect, especially given their brief moment together the previous day. If someone had truly messed up his mind, there was no telling what Max's presence might bring out in him. He might attack her and the pair were a pretty even match. Attention would be instantly drawn. In fact, it made Max momentarily wonder how Alec's super strength hadn't been detected before, given the struggle she had witnessed yesterday. Some pretty strong drugs must have been involved.  
  
Dr. Ford cleared his throat, uncertainly. "How much exactly do you know about Christian's current condition?"  
  
Max's throat felt dry as sandpaper. "Not much. Why?"  
  
Ford donned his glasses once more and leaned across the table. His soft eyes hardened and a clinical edge tinged his voice. "Perhaps I should explain the situation fully to you. I don't want you to go in unprepared in any way."  
  
"That's very considerate, Dr. Ford," Max managed, her heart flying into palpitations at the severe tone in his voice.  
  
"It's for Christian's good as much as your own, Sheryl. Even the slightest mismanagement of word or deed could have profound effects on his mental recovery." Interlacing his fingers, he continued, "Christian is suffering from extreme psychological instability. He is showing signs of schizophrenia and even MPD."  
  
"MPD?"  
  
"Multiple personality disorder. When he was brought in, he totally believed that he was part of some government facility called Manticore. His girlfriend verified that his interest in the tabloid's titillating coverage of mutants in our midst had become something of an obsession. This slowly evolved into a genuine belief that he was one of them. He tried to commit suicide, which brought him here to us, via his therapist.   
  
"Now, we have tried to salvage parts of his mind through various therapies, some more orthodox than others. Some of these have been more successful than others, too. Electric shock therapy, discussion sessions...even truth serums administered by his therapist." Max swallowed hard. It really was worse than Manticore. "What we have left is a shell of a man who is trying to regain some semblance of his old life, re-establish control over whatever sent him over the edge in the first place. Now, if you think you can do this, then I'd be thrilled to have your co-operation...but if it is too much, then please walk away now. The last thing Christian needs is a dead end, a vanquished hope before it has even begun."  
  
"Can I see him?" Max repeated, unsure of how much she wanted this meeting now.   
  
"Follow me."   
  
**********  
  
OC dialled Logan Cale's number so hard her fingers hurt. Max had been missing for nearly the whole day and hadn't so much as checked in with her. The skipping work part was no big dealio but now Normal was on her back big time and, without the low down, OC wasn't sure what kind of lie to tell. It was just lucky for Max that she'd come through for Normal enough times to avoid being fired. The colour Reagan was turning was unhealthy even on a beetroot.   
  
"Logan, what you done with my girl?" She could almost hear him wince at the volume of her voice. "I ain't seen her all day but I'm betting you have, so what say you spill the beans?"  
  
Logan's voice sounded strained at the other end. "She's on kind of a big job, Original Cindy."  
  
"It must be the real deal if she couldn't even give me the heads up. What's the sitch?" Anger was rapidly replaced with genuine concern for her friend. Ever since she had found out that Max was a Manticore victim, instead of pushing her away, it had made OC love her pal even more. She dreaded to think the kind of scrapes Max got herself into and never told anyone.  
  
When Logan didn't offer up an explanation, OC started putting two and two together, or rather one and one. "I'll bet my sexual orientation this has something to do with her boy, Alec, right? He ain't shown up for work either but I figured he could fight his own battles."  
  
Logan murmured, "Yes, it's got something to do with Alec. Listen, OC, I don't think we should talk about this over the phone. I've got Max's back. If you could just cover for her with your boss, I'm sure she'd appreciate it."  
  
OC peered past the phone booth to the desk where Normal was momentarily visible behind a pile of packages which no one had courier-ed across town. He looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel and she could swear that was steam forming on his glasses. She sighed, "Sounds easier than the deed. Original Cindy's going to have to do some serious legwork if she wants to keep him from the 'firing mood'. But I'll see what I can do. You look after my girl."   
  
She was only too aware that Logan would be doing his best to carry out that last bit so OC didn't bother to wait for any reply, just slammed the phone down and grabbed her bike. If Max didn't get herself killed on this mission, she was going to have some serious making up to do.   
  
**********  
  
"You know where my office is if you need me." Dr. Ford patted Max's arm lightly and smiled. Nodding in acknowledgement, Max took a deep breath. There just didn't seem to be enough air in her lungs to make the step that would bring her face to face with one of her own. Waiting until the doctor was out of sight, Max turned the handle and stepped through the door.  
  
Alec's room closely resembled the infirmary at Manticore - all white walls and shiny metal, completely lacking in human touch. The clinical strip lighting replaced the natural light of absent windows. He was lying on the bed on top of the covers, wearing typical hospital garb - loose fitting cotton trousers and V-neck shirt. The clothing hung off his emaciated frame, his face turned away from the door.   
  
Max moved closer to the bed, bleakly registering the leather restraints holding him down. With every step, her friend's face came more sharply into view. With horror, she gazed down on the skeletal visage; his eye sockets were dark and sunken, bruised from lack of untroubled sleep. His breathing was slow and even, the work of sedatives coursing through his system. Max shrank away from the wraith before her. This wasn't Alec. Even in sleep, there was no semblance of the young man she had known.   
  
"Alec?" she whispered, the sound barely audible to her own ears. Max was half afraid of what she would see if he opened his eyes - the hollow deadness of an empty vessel.   
  
His breath remained even and not even a flicker of consciousness passed over him, so Max tried again a little louder. This time she touched her hand to his cheek. As if her skin were a hot poker, Alec's eyes flew open, horror and fear glinting in them. "Alec, it's me. It's Max." His breath hitched in his throat as if he had awoken from a nightmare and, for a second, Max was afraid he might scream. "Alec, calm down. It's ok. You don't have to be afraid of me."  
  
Alec's unfaltering gaze followed Max's every move as fragmented images shone in his mind, like the sunlight caught on a mirror - burning bright for a precious second before turning into indecipherable shadow once more. Something deep within him told him he knew this person, that she was not lying when she said he should not be afraid. Yet, still she called him Alec, the very name he was trying to forget. Filtering the word out, he waited for what this familiar visitor might say next.  
  
He barely trusted his own voice after so long without use. He did not speak anymore, only occasionally releasing inhuman sounds of pain, frustration, even anger at the life he could not remember. For how could he speak when the voice ensuing was not his own? It belonged to another person, to this Alec from Manticore. It was not Christian's voice.  
  
"Alec, it's me. It's Max." Max's brow furrowed in confusion. Did he remember her? What was that look in his eye? She could feel a lump forming in her throat and her voice trembled when she spoke. "Don't you remember me?"  
  
Alec tried to withdraw from her reaching hand but the restraints staid him. He flinched as the restraints dug into the raw skin on his wrists and ankles. He had tugged mercilessly at his tethers once, desperate to be free, but there was no need now. They kept him safe from himself, from the stranger inside his body.  
  
Max's gaze travelled to Alec's hands where bandages adorned his bony wrists. "Alec? What happened?" She tentatively pried the leather away and saw the brownish stains of recent blood slowly seeping through the linen. "Did they put you in handcuffs? Was it White? God, what have they done to you? Where have you gone? Come back to me," she whispered, a prayer trapped in this obscene tragedy. Tears prickled in her eyes but she was helpless to contain them.  
  
The fear was beginning to dissipate. Alec knew he needn't be afraid. Curiosity which had abandoned him emerged once more. Would this girl have the answers to his questions and which part of his life had she sprung from? The world which Alec lived in? Was it real after all?  
  
Max felt his eyes on her, penetrating and questioning. It was unsettling, not so much because of the way they followed her but more because there was not so much as a glimmer of the man she had known behind them. There was none of the assured cockiness, no gleam of impish excitement. Whoever had done this to him had done it thoroughly.  
  
She desperately wanted to shake Alec by the shoulders and jerk him back into reality, make him remember who he was but she was so afraid. She had seen him when he was bad; perhaps he had been pushed too far, perhaps there was nothing left to salvage now. Trying to make him remember would only make it worse. Whispering, Max leaned close and took Alec's hand, refusing to be deterred by the lingering caution on his face. "Who are you? Who do you think you are?" She had to know. "I'll get you out of here, I promise."  
  
Then, his whole face altered in front of her, the interested gaze condensed into an expression of pure panic. His voice came out in a strangled sob. "Why are you here? Why are you doing this to me?" Max released his hand in fright and took a step away from the bed as Alec's mouth began moving rapidly, forming garbled words in a hoarse whisper. "I know you, I know what you are...the devil...the devil in my head. I can't.... Why are you doing this? Why do you want me dead?"  
  
Max tried vainly to calm him once more but every time she came close, Alec's voice grew more urgent and hysterical. "Alec, calm down. I want to help you! I don't want to hurt you."   
  
Tears formed in his eyes and the expression in them was heartbreaking as he pleaded, "Then please, please, leave me alone! Leave me alone!"  
  
"Alec..." Max reached for him again, unable to stop the longing pouring out of herself.   
  
He jerked his head away once more, whispering, "Please just...just leave me alone.."  
  
Max could feel every muscle in her body trembling as she backed towards the door. She had to get out of there. Her hand slipped on the door handle and she struggled with it for a moment as the adrenaline surged through her body. Bursting out into the corridor, she ran directly into Dr. Ford.   
  
He grasped her shoulders and pulled her away from him, his firm grip the only stabilising force in Max's body. "Sheryl, are you all right?" She nodded, not trusting her voice to answer. "Is Christian all right?"  
  
"I don't know...I don't know," she stammered.  
  
The doctor opened the door and peered in on his patient. Without unnecessary drama, he hailed one of the ward nurses, "Would you check Christian's vitals, please. He appears to be somewhat ruffled." Casually, the old doctor turned his attention back to Max who was gradually pulling herself together. "Now, are you sure you're all right, dear?"  
  
Max nodded, "Yes."  
  
Ford seemed unconvinced but he was tactful enough not to push the subject. "Miss Barber, Sheryl...I can see that you are shaken by this meeting so I hope you will not consider this appeal too forward of me. I am genuinely concerned for Christian's health. Since his arrival here, he has made no headway at all, in fact he has been deteriorating daily. I know this has been an ordeal for you, but could I ask that you perhaps return?" Max looked up at him in surprise. Somehow she had been expecting every employee here to be somehow under White's spell, corrupt and untrustworthy. But when she looked at this kindly old man, it was clear that he was just a pawn in all this, a man trying to do his job in the midst of chaos. Misinterpreting her response, he continued, "I know it's a lot to ask, but the agitation Christian just displayed gives me some hope. It is a reaction no one has seen in him since his first days here. If your presence can elicit any kind of response, it would be a miracle. Please. I'm sure his therapist would be happy to talk further with you, answer any questions you might have."  
  
At this, Max paused. "Who is his therapist again?"  
  
"Dr. Stern," Ford replied. "In fact, there he is right now." He gestured to a figure who had just turned into the corridor. Even from their far vantage point, Max didn't need a double take to recognise him. "He's a very good doctor, has an excellent reputation, even if his methods have been somewhat unorthodox at times..." Ford glanced back at the spot where Max had been standing but there was no sign of her. She had simply disappeared under his nose.  
  
**********  
  
END OF CHAPTER 7 


	8. Chapter 8

MAKE ME MAD   
  
By Allegra  
  
See Part One for disclaimers etc.  
  
CHAPTER 8  
  
Max was still fighting her emotions when she dragged her bike into a safe corner and headed up to Logan's apartment. She knew his copious calls to her pager over the past hour had only been because he was worried about her but she had needed some space. Sure, Logan had stood up for Alec a couple of times in the past but Max was also sensitive enough to recognise that he wasn't exactly Eyes Only's favourite person. Although there was nothing more than annoyance between them, Max's relationship with Alec was a threat to Logan. Alec was several times more of a man, physically, than Logan could ever hope to be since his accident. Max had simply needed some time alone, to reconcile what she had just witnessed with the guy she had kicked out of Seattle not so long ago.  
  
Padding through Logan's apartment, Max found him sitting at the kitchen bar with a bowl of peanuts and a glass of water. His eyes were firmly fixed on the lame excuse for a newspaper in front of him. The headline read like the front cover of Nexus magazine - conspiracy theories and fuzzy pictures taken by eye-witnesses abounded.   
  
Max crept up behind him and tilted her head askew as she read the first line. "'Was Michael Jackson the founder of a mutant race?' Wow, Logan, you think we should follow that one up?"   
  
Logan jumped visibly and whirled on the bar stool round to face her. "Max! I've been paging you for over an hour! Where have you been? I was worried." Her attempt at a joke had failed miserably to conceal the fear on her face and Logan sensed it immediately. "What happened?"  
  
Max had been holding herself together for hours but the strain was taking its toll. She hadn't been ready for the effect something happening to Alec would produce in her. "Logan, it was awful. I felt so helpless. I've never felt like that before."  
  
Logan desperately wanted to encircle her shoulders with his arms, to hold her tightly but he knew it was forbidden. "I have," he replied. His words reached her but it was clear that Max's mind was far from absorbing the subtext. Drawing her out of the kitchen and to the sofa, he sat down across from her. "Tell me everything. What happened?"  
  
Max swallowed, dryly. She knew he deserved to hear the whole story but she needed to be strong to tell it. Mentally fishing for the training Manticore had given her, she fought to seek the resilience she needed to get through this whole situation intact. She was no good to anyone as a nervous wreck, least of all Alec. Bracing herself, Max poured out the whole incident. Logan was patient and asked no questions, simply letting her vent everything.   
  
Finally, he spoke. "So White's behind it for sure."  
  
Max nodded, uneasily. "But why? Why would he do something like this, Logan? It doesn't make any sense."  
  
Logan was already on the same wavelength. "He only wants Alec dead. Why would he toy with him like this? Unless..."  
  
Max looked up, expectantly. "Unless?"  
  
"Unless he has discovered something else about Alec that we don't know or..." The light bulb in his head was flashing brightly. "...he's keeping Alec in there for another reason, for a further purpose. After all, White still works for the FBI and maybe, for a while, his orders coincide with the personal goals of his breeding cult."  
  
Max stared at him, a familiar fire renewed in her eyes. "And there's only one way to find out."  
  
Logan caught her, "Wait, Max, what are you going to do?"  
  
Already on her feet once more, Max clenched her jaw. "Pump his doctor for information. Judging from the way he deferred to White, he must be working for him. White might be a match for me but this Dr. Ford certainly isn't."  
  
"What happens if you get caught? You'll be a lot of use to Alec locked up in the state penitentiary for assault."  
  
Max's hands went to her hips. "You got a better plan?"  
  
Logan raised his eyebrows in concern. "I just think you need to do a bit of contingency planning. If he's not involved, you'll have beaten up an old man for no good reason and if he is, well, Alec's dead."  
  
Max shrugged, "So I'll take him with me."  
  
Logan was starting to have trouble keeping up with Max's erratic decisions. "Who? The doctor?"  
  
"No, not the doctor - Alec!"  
  
Logan smiled, sardonically. "So the circle comes around. Isn't that exactly the problem? You can't break him out."  
  
"No. Before, I was cautious. Now I'm just mad and I want Alec back here with us - safe. If that means taking him out of there by force then that's what I'll do." Max watched Logan's mouth open to deliver another meditated piece of crap and she snapped. "No arguments!"  
  
Logan could barely contain himself. "No arguments?! Max, you're not thinking this through! Even if you do all this and get Alec out, what then? From what you've said, White's broken him down in little more than twenty-one days! Can you even begin to imagine what kind of torture or drugs he would need to achieve that?!"  
  
Max snarled, "Of course I do. Better than you."  
  
Logan lowered his voice, realising how dangerously close they were to a full-scale argument. "So how are you going to help him? Tell me because I'm dying to know. How in God's name are you helping Alec anywhere in this half-cocked plan?"  
  
Max said nothing, her jaw tight and determined. Then, slowly the tensed muscles uncoiled and her hands dropped from her waist. Softly, she whispered, "I have to, Logan. There's no other way."  
  
He sighed, understanding only too well how she was feeling at this minute. God knows he had walked in her shoes once, whenever Max was in danger and he was helpless to do anything other than sit by a computer and fearing the worst. Yet, he couldn't hold her back, he could only be the voice of reason and pray that she took his advice. "I'm sorry, Max. I know you're worried."  
  
Suddenly, her expression altered once more and Logan's heart lurched when he caught the whirling dervish of raw emotions displayed there. Briskly, she told him, "I am, but we can't wait any longer. I'm not even sure if White saw me. He might have already worked out who Alec's visitor was and be carting him away as we speak. Logan, there isn't time to talk this over anymore! I've got to go back there, pump Ford for everything he knows, grab Alec's medical files and then him."  
  
Logan hated the way this whole scenario sounded. He could already see the blood stains on the walls but, when push came to shove, he would always stand beside Max no matter what. "Well, if you're going to do this, you need a getaway car. Alec's not going to get on your bike."  
  
Max nodded, mutely. For a moment, their gazes locked, both hoping to see something more than weary resignation to their fates. Logan wanted nothing more than for Max to back down and Max was searching for more than support simply because he loved her. She wanted him to believe in the mission. But he didn't, so they'd have to make do. "Thanks," she managed.  
  
**********  
  
Dr. Ford had spent the better part of an hour sitting outside his own office while Dr. Stern familiarised himself with the latest developments in Christian's file. It was somewhat irksome to be usurped from his very own room but he had given up trying to stand his ground with Stern a long time ago. Ford had discussed their patient's case over the phone for several months prior to Christian's admission to Pineview, a somewhat unusual way to conduct such business. From the get go, Ford had been suspicious of Stern's motives and the verity of Christian's case, but one look at the state he arrived in was ample proof that the poor boy was in dire need of psychological aid.   
  
However grateful he had been to see the patient for himself, Ford had never quite shaken off his reservations about Christian's therapist. His credentials had checked out adequately, including all his professional qualifications and even past patients. But still there was something lacking, a certain aloofness and manner quite atypical for such a successful therapist. Yet, it didn't seem to matter how often he queried the man's decisions, Ford quickly found himself back where he had started.   
  
At long last and several coffees later, Ford was readmitted to his office where Stern was still seated in his favourite leather chair. Reclining back in the squeaky brown leather, the younger man stared at Ford through narrowed eyes. "Everything seems to be in order, Dr. Ford. You've been treating my patient well."  
  
"Really? Well, I haven't really been at liberty to do much more than try talking to him."  
  
Stern smiled, "I'm sure you're working wonders beneath the surface, doctor."   
  
Ford cleared his throat, uncertainly. "Dr. Stern, I was hoping to have a word with you about Christian's medication. I followed your instructions to the letter when he first arrived but..."  
  
Stern's eyes pierced his. "You haven't been tampering with his prescriptions, have you?"  
  
"No, nothing like that, but I was thinking perhaps now would be a good time to reconsider the boy's needs."  
  
"Do me a favour and don't think. I respect your opinions, doctor, but I also spent a good deal of time drawing up arrangements with your governors to maintain full control of Christian's case. I hope you haven't forgotten the contract you signed."  
  
Ford shook his head, vigorously. "No, no, of course not." It was rare for Stern to be so curt but neither was it completely unheard of. In fact, it was the very aspect of the man's personality which concerned Ford the most. What sort of doctor demanded such strict adherence to his own decisions? One might think the answer would be a doctor who cared so much for his patient that he didn't trust anyone else enough to handle the case. Yet, Stern displayed no such concern, if anything the elderly doctor detected a certain contempt for Christian. What sort of doctor despised his patient?  
  
On most occasions, Ford bit his tongue or presented his opinions with tentative suggestion, but given the deterioration Christian was undertaking, something had to be said. "I don't wish to cause trouble, Dr. Stern, but surely you can see from the physical tests my staff have carried out that Christian is deteriorating rapidly. I am concerned that these drug concoctions you have been issuing are having more negative than positive effects on his condition."  
  
Stern nodded, taking in the suggestion with calm meditation. "I see. And that is your professional opinion, is it?"  
  
"Yes, it is," Ford admitted, warily, but refusing to withdraw the comment. For a moment the two men remained in silence until it was broken by the timely entrance of a nurse. She stopped short in the doorway and stammered, "Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Ford. I didn't know you had company."  
  
Ford waved her in. "That's fine, Penny. Are these the latest test results?"  
  
"Yes, doctor. They just came back."  
  
"Thank you." The nurse disappeared and Ford perused the sheets of paper in the cardboard folder, his brow furrowing in concern. "I wonder if these might not lend more weight to my medical opinion, Dr. Stern." He passed the papers over the table.  
  
Stern accepted them ungraciously and held a scan up to the light. "What exactly am I looking at here, doctor? Physiology isn't really my field."  
  
Another slip which Ford was willing to overlook. He was quite aware when he was outnumbered. Everyone above him whom he had approached over the dodgy Dr. Stern had been like a brick wall. They had all been paid off to keep their mouths shut, which only made him an even more shady character. Now, he didn't even seem to know how to read a brain scan. Humouring him, Ford explained, "Christian's brain activity is being severely affected by the quantities of sedatives circulating through his blood stream. They are inhibiting function through his cerebral cortex. His synapses are not firing properly, or rather they are doing so fairly erratically, which in turn is slowly corroding his brain matter. Whatever information he has stored there, subconscious, conscious, memories, motor functions, will all begin to disintegrate if this ridiculous course of drugs continues!"  
  
Stern examined the scan without so much of a flicker of remorse. "I see. And what convinced you to carry out these tests, doctor? I'm curious - do I detect some animosity?"  
  
Ford was unprepared for such a base attack. "Of course not! My concern is purely a human one for a boy in dire need of help. I can't believe you would even deign to consider I would..."  
  
Ford stopped when he saw a look of sudden realisation cross Stern's face. "We need to reduce the dosage immediately. No, forget that. I want him moved. I'll organise it."  
  
"Move him? What are you talking about?!"  
  
"I don't expect you to understand, doctor, but I do expect your co-operation. I will make arrangements within the week to have Christian removed to a more secure facility with the capacity to deal with this sort of thing. I think we're done then." Without waiting for so much as a word of acknowledgement, Stern grabbed the file and stalked from the room, leaving poor Dr. Ford mouth agape behind him.  
  
**********  
  
Max had dutifully waited until nightfall before embarking on the plan which Logan had so eloquently shot down at every opportunity. In truth, the transgenic had been disappointed by her cohort's attitude. Part of the appeal of Eyes Only was the risk he was always willing to take in search of justice, yet suddenly none of that counted where Alec was concerned. Sure, Max would have been the first to stand up and state her surprise that the shallow, irritating, opportunistic fellow X5 had so deeply embroiled her in one of his scrapes. On the other hand, Alec was almost as much a target of White's hatred as she herself was, and this particular problem was simply another way of piecing together the murky plan White had been hatching.   
  
Why couldn't Logan see that? There was a fine line between putting a friend in jeopardy and leaving him there to gather maximum information, but this situation had gone way beyond that. Alec was not learning anything from this, he wasn't building up a mental record of access codes and tidbits of information. He was suffering, brutally and frighteningly rapidly forced into a state of fear and loneliness. Not even Max could leave him to such a fate.  
  
Back in her cat burgling garb, she was feeling much more like herself. Something about the charade of the wig and feigned weakness during her visit as Sheryl Barber had made Max feel vulnerable. Now, however, everything was back to normal. She wouldn't need to hitch a skirt up in order to deliver a vicious drop kick, nor would she only have a handbag to swing in self defence. No, this was a transgenic at her best. As if to prove this fact to herself, Max deftly picked the lock on one of the back exits of the facility and slipped inside. In some operations, a daytime assault was a useful surprise tactic but, if there was one thing that never changed, it was bedtime on a psychiatric ward. All the freaks were calmly sedated or fitted snugly into their straitjackets for the night, leaving a few lazy custodians to snooze away in front of the office television.  
  
It didn't take long for Max to locate Dr. Ford's office since it was placed fairly close to the main entrance of the block. Neither did she have to guess as to whether the good doctor would be inside. A mellow, buttery glow shone from around the door frame and the transgenic peeked through the keyhole to make sure there would be no surprises on the other side. Until she had answers to the questions whirling in her mind, there was no telling when White might appear. The coast appeared clear so Max kicked open the door with undue force, hoping to impress the importance of this visit on Ford.   
  
"Sorry, did I startle you?" she enquired, voice laden with sarcasm.  
  
Ford's pen dropped from loose fingers as the young woman approached his desk, apparently from nowhere. "Who are you?" he stammered. "What do you want?"  
  
"I want answers and you seem to be just the man to provide them, starting with everything you know about Christian Hastings." Max leaned across the man's papers, forcing him into formidable eye contact.   
  
Ford fumbled with his glasses for a moment and Max was about to swipe them out of his hand when her conscience got the better of her. He seemed genuinely afraid of her and, for someone with direct connections with Ames White, hardly exhibited character traits synonymous with keeping secrets. It dawned on Max that this man could be nothing more than a pawn in White's game, in which case, playing the heavy would only break a few bones and extract a few pitiful pleads. Finding his voice, Ford put up a good show of invincibility. "I'm afraid patient-doctor confidentiality forbids me passing on that kind of information...and the circumstances of your arrival only confirm its importance."  
  
Max smiled sweetly, as if he were an insect about to be trampled under her army surplus boots. "But Christian isn't just your patient though, is he? Dr. Stern has complete control of the case." It was a statement not a question and Max could see the change in the older man's face. He was trying to place her face and thereby the source of all this information.  
  
"Do I know you?"  
  
"Picture me as a blonde."  
  
"Christian's visitor? Who are you?"  
  
Max shifted on the edge of the desk until she was gazing down at him. "I'm asking the questions, grandad. Now tell me everything you know about Christian, starting with who you're working for."  
  
"I work for Pineview! I don't work for anyone else." The urgency in his voice led Max to believe Ford was telling the truth but she couldn't make life too easy for the guy during an interrogation.  
  
"Yeah, sure you do. Ever hear of Ames White? FBI with a few other projects on the side?"  
  
Ford shook his head, vehemently. "I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"I believe you but, take it from me, you don't want to mess with guys like him. So, if I told you he has a pretty black track record and that he happens to be posing as Dr. Stern, would you tell me about Christian without me squeezing you too hard?" Max had warmed to the doctor on her previous visit and, although she didn't hold my stock by gut instincts, she had the strong feeling that he was one of the good guys. It would give her no satisfaction to bloody his nose or break his fingers.   
  
Ford raised the heel of his palms to his eye sockets, forcing the glasses up to the bridge of his nose. He let out a strained sigh as if trying hard to come to terms with everything he was hearing. Max let him be. It was a lot to digest, after all. Eventually, he raised watery blue eyes to her fierce brown ones. "That would certainly explain his lack of medical knowledge."  
  
"So you knew nothing about his disguise? How did you get involved in all this?"  
  
"I was approached by one of the board of governors for the hospital. He informed me of a special case, Christian's. The conditions of his stay here were strange to say the least. He already had a competent therapist with many years of experience, this Dr. Stern. Christian needed permanent care and mental exercise to ensure that his brain activity did not diminish any further than it already had. There was a strict diet and a medication regime of the likes I have never seen in my professional career."  
  
Max interrupted, "So if everything seemed so strange, why didn't you say something to your superiors?"  
  
"Who could I tell? The governors were behind it and, besides, there were other financial incentives for my co-operation." Max nodded, mutely, trying hard not to pass judgement. Ironic that Alec should find himself at the hands of someone as financially corrupt as himself. Ford sensed her disgust and tried to defend himself. "I'm not getting any younger and work in the health sector, even private since the Pulse, is a pauper's job. I was just trying to make ends meet and I was assured that, with Stern's consent, I would be able to give Christian all the support he needed."  
  
"But...?" Max prompted. So far the story sounded pretty tidy. There had to be a few stray ends around the place somewhere.   
  
Ford sighed, "Well, I suppose I never banked on meeting a doctor with such vicious work ethics. Almost every suggestion I made for the bettering of Christian's health was rebuffed without so much as an explanation. I was given sparing information about the boy's background and needs. Therapy has been my only option."  
  
"And it hasn't worked?"  
  
"Not with the medication he has been given. I never knew the contents of each pill but the depressant effect on the patient's brain was enormous. I tried to override Stern's jurisdiction in the matter but have met a stone wall at every turn. That is why FBI involvement does not entirely surprise me." Ford finished, eyeing Max warily, as if expecting her to give him a Chinese burn or pin him to the floor.  
  
"Listen, doctor, I don't want to compromise you any further by giving you too much information. Suffice to say, Christian is not your patient's real name and Stern, White, whatever you want to call him, put him here for a reason. He wants 'Christian' dead, he wants me dead. I don't know what kind of game he is playing but you can be quite sure there was nothing wrong with your patient until Stern got him in his grasp."  
  
"Is there anything I can do?" Ford enquired, genuinely concerned for Alec's welfare.  
  
"Right now, the best you can do is give me Christian's medication and turn a blind eye while I get him out of here."  
  
"Where will you take him?"  
  
"The less answers you have, the safer you are, doctor." Max hoped the words sounded a little gentler than the rest of their conversation. "Where is he?"  
  
Ford rummaged in the desk and produced several small bottles of pills and a couple of syringes. "These are the meds he's been taking so far. I kept a few aside with the hope of getting them tested but...maybe you could do it." His voice trailed away for a moment as if embarrassed of his well-intended yet cowardly plans. "He's in room 211, but there's something you should know!"  
  
Max paused in the doorway with the bag of medication. "What?"  
  
"This afternoon I told Stern that Christian's brain activity was narrowing. He is going to have the boy removed from Pineview as soon as possible."  
  
"He's already taken Ale...Christian?" Max asked, worriedly.  
  
Ford shook his head, "No, not yet."  
  
"Then, as far as you know, I was never here." She took another step towards the door before glancing back at the old man who looked frailer than ever behind his large desk. "If Stern gets heavy, tell him everything that took place this evening, but make it look like I used forced. If he doesn't suspect you, I'll be the first suspect for White anyway." Forcing a smile to her lips, Max ducked out of the office and headed directly for the stairwell.  
  
She sprinted silently along the corridor until she reached room 211. Putting down the bag Ford had given her, Max fumbled for the small selection of tools she always kept about her person.  
  
Jiggling the locks and using enhanced strength to deal with the dead bolts, Max cautiously opened the patient's door. For a second, her hand paused on the handle, her mind flooding with possibilities of what she was about to see. So far, Max had viewed this sortie in a soldier's terms, with Manticore detachment. Get in, achieve the objective, get out. Now, at this pivotal moment, all of that fell away and she was reminded with a shivering rush that now was the moment she'd be facing Alec once more.   
  
His whimpering plead for her to leave him alone kept repeating in her head and Max faltered for a moment. A shuffling sound from the end of the corridor quickly reasserted her and she swiftly stepped through the door, closing it quietly behind her. Now she was alone. Alone with Alec - or rather the shell of him.  
  
"Alec?" she whispered into the darkness. Taking a step closer towards the dark shape in the bed, Max withdrew a penlight from her belt and shone it carefully over the sleeping form. It didn't take more than a cursive glance to realise. This wasn't Alec at all. He was gone.  
  
**********  
  
END OF PART 8  
  
OK, I'm sorry guys! After taking sooo long writing this part, I've gone & left you with a cop-out ending again. But, I've already had 2 threats of leg-breaking if I don't get a move on!! They didn't say anything about it being a satisfying new part (he,he!!). If it's any consolation, there WILL indeed be a happy ending to this story, even though it might not appear that way right now. 


	9. Chapter 9

MAKE ME MAD  
  
By Allegra  
  
See Part One for disclaimers.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm really sorry this part has taken SOOOOO long. There are no good excuses just writer's block, I suppose. A huge thank you to everyone who has been reviewing this story for me. Your lovely words (& your threats) ring in my ears as I write & keep me churning out more! Big thank you to the beautiful people at Gumboot Mafia. You have all been so welcoming & generous. I'm thrilled to be posting on the board. Shall I let you know whether Alec makes it or not yet? Or shall I keep you hanging? Ooh, the power rush to my head...!  
  
PART 9  
  
"You lying sack of..." Max's last expletive was drowned out by the sound of Dr. Ford's body slamming against his office wall, displacing pictures, books and papers with alarming ferocity. His hands grappled futilely at the strong female arms latched onto his throat. "What have you done with him?!"  
  
Ford whimpered in pain and shock, "Nothing! He was there at lock down. I don't know where else he would be!" He stared wildly into the angry black eyes inches from his face, noting the young woman's clenched jaw. She was not one to be meddled with but the doctor's instincts told Ford she was a better bet to trust than Stern would ever be - and no less formidable as an enemy.  
  
"When was lock down?"  
  
"No more than half an hour ago," he stammered. Almost instantaneously, the vice like hands lifted from his throat and the enigmatic warrior girl raced from the room without so much as a word of goodbye. Ford was still standing with shaking hands against his office wall when the sound of a motorbike engine revved in the distance.  
  
**********  
  
Max didn't know which feeling was more overwhelming - her rising anger at being messed around or fear that she might not catch up with White and his crones. Her hand was pressed hard onto the accelerator as she spun recklessly round bends on the wet roads. She no longer cared about being stealthy and quiet. Manticore had trained its children to bury their emotions and fight with cold ruthlessness, but too many years in the real world were clearly making a mark on Max. Her heart was no longer frozen in stone but a bloody, beating creature with emotions she couldn't keep in check. Alec was part of her family. Sure, he was also an irritating bastard for the most part, but when it came to the crunch, Max knew where her loyalties lay.   
  
Perhaps if he had been simply handcuffed and imprisoned, still full of his customary droll humour, Max could treat the situation with a more business-like attitude. But it was not so; Alec was a mere shell of the X5 she had known. His vulnerability swelled Max's heart in a way she had rarely experienced. She had to find him and fast.  
  
It was in the middle of these musings that Max caught sight of a van parked in a siding. Two thugs were manhandling someone out of the back and it did not take many brain cells to imagine who it was. Max saw red and flung her precious bike to the ground amongst some tree stumps. Sidling up quietly to the side of the van, she took the first man unawares, garrotting him in an instant. The second man was more of a challenge.  
  
Without the element of surprise and with White's courteous choice of conclave escorts, Max had her work cut out for her. Still, she had the advantage. To him, this was just one in a string of jobs for White with little or no praise, whereas Max fought with all her heart - not entirely recklessly but with a dangerous abandonment which enticed her to take risks he would not. He dumped the body shaped bundle back into the van and turned to face the transgenic. Maybe he was a rookie or simply unprepared for an ambush but Max quickly took him out and he fell to the ground with a sharp blow to the left temple.  
  
"Alec!" She pulled the blanket away from his inert body. His skin was unnaturally cold to the touch, especially given the X5's normal body temperature. Minute shivers trembled through his slight frame and Max rearranged the blanket around him. "Alec? Can you hear me?" His eyes remained closed and as she felt his pulse, Max knew White's crones must have doped him to the eyeballs to avoid a fuss while they moved him. But where the hell were they taking him to? "Don't worry, Alec. I'll get you out of here. Just hang in there." She pulled him forward by his legs and then slung him over her shoulder before carrying him round to the passenger door. He slipped bonelessly in the seat, his head lolling forward. Max tried to keep him in place with the seat belt and managed to secure him relatively well. Grabbing the loose restraints from the rear, she bound the hands and feet of the thug she had restrained herself from killing. If there were answers to be had, he was the one to give them. Without further ado, Max found the keys and revved the van into action.  
  
**********  
  
Logan was almost at his wit's end. He had been waiting in his car in a ditch a couple of miles outside town, waiting for a signal from Max. None had come and the initial stages of panic were starting to set in. He had tried her cell only to find, unsurprisingly, that it had been turned off. So, now he was left toying with the dilemma of whether to go home or keep waiting. Just as he was about to make an exerted attempt at a decision, his phone rang. "Max!"  
  
"Sorry I didn't call sooner. Things got kinda out of hand."  
  
She sounded characteristically unflustered but Logan couldn't help asking, "Are you okay?"  
  
"I'm good. I got Alec. I'm bringing him to your place."  
  
"Okay, where are you? I'll come and get you." Logan started the engine.  
  
"No need. I bagsed me a van. See you back at yours." Max killed the phone dead and spared a moment's glance in Alec's direction. She only prayed the sedative didn't wear off before she made it back into town. She could handle what she was prepared for but right now Alec was an unknown quantity. If he woke up, there was no telling what his reaction might be - wild hysteria or shock. Whichever way he leaned, Max wanted to give him her full attention, not try to drive through the bustling city at the same time.  
  
**********  
  
By the time he heard the whirr of the elevator reaching his penthouse, Logan had already put clean sheets on the bed, rifled through his medicine cabinet for anything Max or Alec might need and had even begun fixing something they might want to eat. Given the edge to her voice, it sounded like Max was concerned about her fellow X5 which didn't bode too well for his condition.  
  
The doors parted and Max stepped out, bearing an unconscious Alec in her arms. Their eyes met briefly over the limp body and Logan quickly led the way to his bedroom where Max gently put her friend on the bed and rearranged his limbs into a more comfortable position. "We've got to get these tested," she said, distractedly, tossing a vial in Logan's direction.   
  
He deftly caught it and scrutinised the small pharmacy label. "I'll get Harbour Lights on it."  
  
"Good. The quicker we know what they've pumped in his system, the quicker we get him back." Max's gaze shifted from Alec to Logan, as if hearing his thoughts. "We WILL get him back. I'll do whatever it takes."  
  
"And so will I," Logan whispered. He hated to see that look in her eyes. It was fear and that was an emotion which didn't come easily to an X5. It took a lot to spook them and Logan wanted nothing more than to help erase that expression from Max's face forever. He sat at his computer and entered the database. He'd spent enough time in hospitals to identify most of the ingredients on the system. With any luck, he could work out what Alec had been given without alerting any unnecessary helpers. Besides, Max needed time alone with Alec.  
  
**********  
  
Max paced the bedroom a few times, refusing to give in to the soft emotions melted at the core of her heart. She'd busied herself with the kung-fu act but there was no ass kicking left to be done for the time being. As her mind began to acknowledge this fact, Max's pacing slowed and her eyes turned more frequently to the diminished form of her friend on the bed. The sight wrenched something deep inside her and made her feel uncomfortable. Max didn't cry - she didn't want to and it wasn't her way - but the sensation was not unlike that which had affected her the first time she had been forced to leave Logan with Zach. It was like a tearing sensation in her gut, an unwelcome ball of malevolent energy gathering force and pushing its way through the cavities of her body.   
  
Max sat tentatively on the edge of the bed and perused the unmoving face beneath her. Alec's hair curled in dark tendrils against the white pillow and his skin looked even paler than it had earlier. Dark rings circled his eyes and his lips were drained of colour. He looked almost doll-liked, as if he had been coated in porcelain then neglected and abused by some callous child. But this was not the work of a child, it was the careful masterminding of an evil man Max had come to recognise as nothing less than her ultimate nemesis. Even Lydecker had shown some kind of affection for his 'creations'. They were his children and he did not want to see them harmed, no matter how twisted their birth.  
  
Max's hand reached out for the slender fingers lying so near her. She ran one finger along the flawless skin. They were cool beneath the heat of her own healthy body. Max had never felt so intimate with someone as she felt now. Her few treasured moments with Logan had either faded in her mind or failed to touch her now because Max began to experience emotions she daren't try to put a name to. Feeling discomfort at the unknown, she quickly withdrew her hand and stood up abruptly. This wasn't going to solve anything.  
  
**********  
  
Logan was typing away at his computer deck, headset on and a look of furrowed concentration on his face. "How's it going?"  
  
He glanced up, surprised out of his reverie. "A friend of mine at Pfizer has offered to do a diagnostic on the drugs for me. Most of them seem pretty standard but there's this one..." He read out a long complex pharmaceutical title and Max took the vial as it was offered to her. She perused the ingredients and recognised only a few ingredients. "He's on call but he said if I take it down to him, he'd have a result by morning."  
  
"I'll go," Max offered, although she was in no mood for a refusal. "Where's the lab?"  
  
"Here's the address," Logan tore off a strip of directions from his printer. "The guy's name is Dr. Lloyd Muir. I'll let him know you're on your way. He's set up an appointment for us under the name Frances Verdier."  
  
"Thanks, Logan." Max managed a smile despite her misgivings about what the results would turn up.   
  
"Let's just hope it helps." Max opened her mouth to speak but Logan cut her off. "Don't worry, Max. I'll take good care of him." Max nodded and headed to the elevator.  
  
**********  
  
The lab was situated in the business district of the city and Max remembered delivering a few packages there in the past. It was a towering white monstrosity which seemed barely supported by the tooth pick struts on the ground floor. Windows were cracked and a few boarded up but such a place usually employed embittered but honest workers and Max had a good feeling that she wasn't about to be stabbed in the back.  
  
She approached the front desk. "Frances Verdier to see Dr. Muir."  
  
"Just a moment, please," the young man said. He punched in a number and looked Max up and down while he confirmed her appointment. "Go on up to level 7. He'll meet you at the elevator."  
  
"Thanks." Max stood in the elevator, listening to the pulleys whirr into action. It settled with a jolt on level 7 and the doors opened to reveal a young, bespectacled man with red hair and freckles. He had the exact look of someone who had graduated medical school at the age of 15 and had embarked on a career of constant competitiveness and loneliness because he was always the outsider and envied by those older and poorer than himself. "Hi, I'm Lloyd Muir. You must be 'Frances'. Come with me." He spoke her name as if he were only too aware of it's falsity. Max decided not to let on any genuine details unless they were vital to Alec's recovery.  
  
Muir led her to a small laboratory at the end of a long corridor and shut the door firmly behind them. The room looked as if a bomb had hit it. Papers were strewn haphazardly over and around the small desk and a microscope was balanced precariously on a pile of books. Piles of slides with unidentifiable substances squeezed between frames of glass were stacked on almost every available surface. "What is this place?" Max asked.  
  
"It's my office," Lloyd said, unperturbed by her disgusted tone. "Nobody will disturb us here and I think we'll need the privacy."  
  
"Why? What is it?" Max demanded, anxiety tingeing her voice with sharpness.   
  
"Well, it looks like whoever did this to your friend knew exactly what they were messing with."  
  
Max raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "No kidding. I already know who is behind this. I just want to know how to get the old Alec back."   
  
"Well, I don't know a great deal about...your kind, only what I've read in journal articles and the tabloids, but I've never seen anything like this. It's a concoction of standard and rare drugs, some I couldn't even name for you."  
  
"Cut to the chase, doctor," Max snapped impatiently.  
  
He sighed in resignation. "I'll help you in any way I can. I owe Logan a thousand times over. I'll look your friend over, get him some CAT scans, but you have to do some leg work for me. Without more information on this drug, we're going to waste precious time and..."  
  
Max cut him off curtly. "Manticore burnt to the ground, in case you hadn't heard. Do you really think I'd be here in this bomb of a hospital talking to you if I could just walk into Manticore and break a few arms for the information?" Muir swallowed hurriedly and eyed her suspiciously as if waiting for the mutant to pounce. Max shook her head, wearily. "I'm sorry, Dr. Muir. I'm just a bit strung out," she understated. "You're our last hope. Isn't there anything you can do to ameliorate the effects of what they've put Alec on?"  
  
Muir flicked through the scrappy notes he had made and the test results. "Well, I can put a finger on the basic family of each drug in the cocktail - a mixture of amphetamines and hallucinogens which have been topped up with sedatives to keep him tranquillised. Perhaps if we give Alec small doses of each antidote, we could make some progress."  
  
"Let's give it a try," Max raised her eyebrows as if to ask what Lloyd was waiting for. "What?"  
  
"Well, it's hardly fool proof. It might only make things worse. Without proper..."  
  
"Unless you've got any better ideas, it sounds like this is our best shot. Let's go. I'll pull the bike round front while you get the supplies." Max did not wait for an answer or excuse as to why he couldn't leave the hospital. From the looks of the place, nobody would miss him for a couple of hours.  
  
**********  
  
"How's he doing?" Max asked as she led Lloyd into Logan's apartment. Logan looked up from his bank of monitors, rubbing his fingers across his eyes, beneath the glasses frames. "I checked on him about fifteen minutes ago. He was still out for the count. They dosed him up good."  
  
"Logan. It's good to see you." Muir proffered a hand which Logan shook heartily.   
  
"The feeling's mutual, Lloyd. Thanks for helping out."  
  
Muir swatted a hand in the air, "Not at all. I'm just glad to be of service. You're welcome to call on me any time, you know that." He looked from Logan to Max and asked, "So, where's the patient?"  
  
"Through here." Max had taken a reasonable amount of pains to get Lloyd here but now she wanted nothing more than to stall him for as long as possible. Every second she spent in Alec's company, she felt like screaming or killing something. It aroused something primitive in her which she could barely handle. She was too helpless. She pushed open the bedroom door but hung back to let the doctor pass.   
  
Dr. Muir approached the bed and stared clinically at Alec for a moment, assessing obvious physical signs of life. He reached forward and laid a hand on the transgenic's forehead then opened a small medical case.  
  
Max moved closer. "Our basal temperature is higher than a human's. He doesn't have a fever."  
  
"But he soon will. He's going to have to quit these drugs pretty much cold turkey. It's bound to have some adverse side effects. I'll administer some mild sedatives to keep him calm."  
  
Max nodded then asked, "Will he wake up soon?"  
  
Muir listened to Alec's heartbeat and took his blood pressure. "All his vitals seem to be getting stronger and more stable. I wouldn't be surprised if he regains consciousness within the next ten or twelve hours. Someone should stay with him until then. Without more information on your 'species', I couldn't say for sure that Alec won't have another dip of some kind."  
  
Max watched the doctor go about his business, labelling up small jars and ampoules with instructions for Logan and Max to follow. Finally, he snapped his medical bag closed and smiled at Max uncertainly. "I'm afraid there is little else I can do for him at this stage. Here's my direct line if you need me, day or night."  
  
Max smiled thinly and managed a whisper, "Thank you." There was a little more colour in Alec's cheeks as she sat down beside him. She listened distractedly as Logan talked quietly with the doctor outside the door. It was comforting to hear someone chatting normally, without some dreadful urgency or impending doom. Max had spent too much of her life thinking about problems some world leaders probably hadn't even considered. Despite what he had said after the Berrisford incident, perhaps Alec had been better off staying behind at Manticore. The transgenics might have been ill treated there but life on the outside hadn't exactly proven to be a picnic for the few who escaped.   
  
"Max?" Logan's voice came softly through her reveries.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Why don't you get some rest yourself? You haven't stopped for days."   
  
"No, I'm fine," she mumbled, her eyes never leaving Alec's face.  
  
"Max, please. You heard Lloyd. He could be out for hours. I'll wake you if there's any change." The insistence in his voice was enough to convince Max. She simply did not have the energy for talking and she knew he was right. Alec was safe here with Logan whether she was sleeping next door or not.  
  
"I'll crash on the couch." She stood up, pausing to squeeze Alec's hand for a second. It was a spontaneous action which wouldn't even have crossed her mind had her fellow transgenic been awake. Logan stepped aside as she approached the door, suddenly mindful of the dangers of being close to the woman he loved.   
  
Max paused and looked up at him, her eyes mournful and tired. "Thanks, Logan. I don't know what I'd do without you."  
  
"Don't mention it," Logan replied with a short smile. The front he put on was a far cry from what he felt inside. It took all the energy he could muster not to tell Max how much he loved her and how hard it was to bear watching her tumbling into a downward spiral. Yet he knew he could not. Max needed him strong, just as she was trying to be.  
  
There were so many words which remained unsaid between the couple. Logan felt the burden of it every day. He was a mere human, crippled at that. Even without the virus which forced a wedge between them, Logan Cale would never be the man Max needed. She might think otherwise but then Manticore had hardly dedicated much time to the subtlety of human emotions, unless they helped complete a mission. Logan could see it as clear as day. Max loved him, yes, but it wasn't made to last.  
  
Logan turned to the still figure on the bed. Now, that was another story. There was someone else built to last, built to satisfy Max's every need including the ones Logan was unable to provide. It was only a matter of time before Alec came into his own in Max's eyes. He would mature, realise his responsibilities, become her second in command and where would that leave Logan? It saddened him to imagine returning to the days of Eyes Only without Max beside him but the thought of her unhappy saddened him more. Whatever brought a smile back to those dark eyes was more than enough to satisfy Logan.  
  
**********  
  
"What the hell do you mean, you lost him?!" Ames White's face alternated from crimson with rage to white as the blood ranged in and out of his cheeks. Lieutenant Forbes, still nursing a gash to his temple, had never seen his boss this angry before. White rarely showed his true feelings and usually, and perhaps more disconcertingly, kept them hidden beneath a mask of smug indifference. Today though, he had been pushed too far.   
  
"I'm sorry, sir," Forbes stammered, at a loss for what to say which would make any difference to the man's mood. White moved uncomfortably close to him, to the point where the young lieutenant could feel White's breath on his face.  
  
"You have failed me, soldier. I don't take failure lightly. You were given a simple task, to move a sedated man from one location to another and you couldn't even do that without losing him." His beady brown eyes surveyed the younger man's face, enjoying the fear reflected back at him. For a second, he said nothing. He knew Forbes was awaiting death and that pleased White. After all, the stupid fool probably deserved it. It would save him the embarrassment of cocking everything up again further down the line. Instead, Ames took a deep breath and asked, "Did you see who assaulted you?"  
  
"No, sir, but, whoever it was, came alone."   
  
"Alone?" White gave him a pitying look, that the soldier couldn't even hold his own against one measly aggressor who had already killed his partner. He paused to think for a moment. One face sprang to mind - long dark hair, sensuous lips, determined brown eyes. There was only one person who had the balls to take out White's own people for the sake of X5-494. "452." He turned to the frightened lieutenant, a slow smile spreading across his face.  
  
**********  
  
"Max," a whispered voice beckoned her back from the brink of slumber. For a second, her eyes remained closed, unprepared to let the waking world take her again. Then, remembering everything, her dark eyes flew open and she sat upright on the bed. Logan withdrew smartly as their hands almost touched. "It's okay, Max. Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."  
  
"What is it? Is he awake?" she asked instantly, her eyes darting towards the open bedroom door.  
  
"No, Alec's the same. I just got some news, figured you'd want to hear it." Max dragged her long dark hair behind her neck and waited, expectantly. "As you know, I had a private investigator watching Ames White. He lost track of him, unsurprisingly, about a month ago. We lost the trace completely...until last night. Purely by chance, my guy picked him up again in the city and managed to follow him back to some kind of hi-tech warehouse on the outskirts."  
  
"Have you got the address?" Max asked, urgently.  
  
"I've got better than that. This guy is the best in the business, that's why I hired him. As a former government employee, he's got friends in useful places and all the latest hi-tech equipment. He says there's some kind of sealed room inside the building. It looks like a huge walk-in safe. From the way he described the sonar images he managed to pick up, it sounded like there were more pharmaceuticals in there than anything else."  
  
"Alec's cure," Max breathed.  
  
Logan nodded, sombrely. "Could be."  
  
"Give me the address." Max was already up off the bed, pulling on her leather jacket.  
  
"Wait, Max. There's more."   
  
Max gave him one of her steely looks that said nothing could keep her down now that she had some hope. Logan knew the expression only too well but this was one predicament the X5 wasn't going to be able to kick box her way out of. "The safe is voice activated only."  
  
Max's heart sank. "Let me guess, activated by White only."  
  
Logan pulled out a piece of paper and handed it cautiously to Max, careful not to touch her. "My contact managed to get an incoherent recording through the wall of what White said to get in but the walls were several inches thick and the recording didn't come out very well due to interference from other machinery in the building. Here's an approximation of what he said. I'll keep working on it until it sounds right."  
  
"So what do you want me to do?" Max asked, desperate to get moving and do something useful.  
  
"You've got to engineer a meeting with White, get him to say these phonemes. Then, we'll have everything we need. Can you do that?" He surveyed her drawn face with worry. "Because if you don't feel up to it, I'm sure..."  
  
"I'm fine. Just give me the list of phonemes," Max demanded.  
  
Logan reluctantly wrote some sounds down and handed it to Max. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"  
  
Max looked at him, the sensitive, soft look had disappeared only to be replaced with the steely expression he had come to consider her 'Manticore' stance. "I can handle White."  
  
**********  
  
END OF PART 9 


	10. Chapter 10

MAKE ME MAD By Allegra  
  
(See Part One for disclaimers etc.)  
  
Author's Note : Well, I've got no right to expect anyone to be reading this when I've abandoned it for so long but there is an ending all worked out & I'm trying to give it the attention poor Alec deserves. A really big thank you to Cleo for the desperate e-mail you sent me. Having said I wasn't sure when I'd get back to this fic, you actually inspired me! So, I hope this part doesn't disappoint. A couple of naughty swear words in this one so I hope I don't offend. Now, on with the freak show…  
  
PART 10  
  
Max made a quick trip back to her apartment to change. She was relieved that Original Cindy wasn't there. The whole situation with Alec was rapidly escalating and it helped her a whole lot more to be able to become a Manticore super soldier once more. If her friend turned up now, it would set Max back a pace or two. She needed to be strong, ruthless and unafraid. OC would only make that harder, even if she didn't mean to. Even if it was tough being around Logan, unable to touch and show how they really felt, it had been good to be around someone who understood what was happening with her.  
  
More than anyone else in her 'normal' life, Logan appreciated the difficult transition Max was forced to make – slipping in and out of two polar opposite worlds, her brain divided between the emotions she felt for her friends and the reality of what she had to do.  
  
Changing and gathering a few gadgets she used for her occasional thieving operations, Max ducked out quickly, leaving a note assuring Cindy she was fine. The last thing she needed was her friend worrying and trying to track her down. She punched in Logan's number from speed dial to gain the latest location of Ames White. It seemed surreal to think she was seeking out a man who came as close to terrifying her as anyone. He possessed strength which easily matched up to her own and, more often than not, he was accompanied by equally thug-like stooges. Still, whenever her 'real world' softened heart started thumping in her chest, Max was reminded of Alec. Helpless and psychologically mutilated, he needed her help. He might not be her favourite person from time to time, but he was one of her own, and she was damned if White was going to get away with any of this.  
  
Making a note of the man's whereabouts, she jumped astride her motorbike and sped off in the direction of a downtown bar.

* * *

Logan stared out at the cityscape outside his window. It looked so beautiful, masking a world full of horrors beneath the twinkling lights – the suffering of post-Pulse life, desperate folk turning to crime, people close to ruin and death. Max was out there amongst them now, another figure hovering at the threshold of the abyss, frighteningly close to the precipice. All it took was White getting the upper hand for a moment and it would be over. Logan wondered if he'd feel it if it was.  
  
He tried to remember back to a time when they had just been content together. It was easy to recall the precious moments Logan had shared with Max, because they were so few. Ever since her grand entrance into his life, impending apocalypse had cast its ever lengthening shadow over them. Nothing was ever safe, but there had been a time when it had felt that way. Now, the gloom overtook them once more and Alec had returned to their lives with a whole set of Manticore baggage which threw Max into confusion again.  
  
So often, Logan had looked at the lithe body of her fellow X5 and wondered what chance he had against such perfection. He might be the force behind Eyes Only, but it was action Max could only respect, not truly understand. Her way was to fight, to put her fists where he placed film footage and words. No matter how much he tried to deny it, Logan would always be a cripple compared to Max. But Alec, Alec was her perfect match. Even Manticore, with all their genetic files, had seen that. Lydecker had paired the two off for mating. Logan quickly put a mental block on that image.  
  
Wheeling softly across the deep pile carpet, he opened the door to where Alec was sleeping. His face was turned towards the door and light from the hallway lit his features in soft yellow hues. Perfection indeed. Yet, in his helpless state, Logan couldn't feel threatened to the same extent. He would never like the guy but even Logan appreciated that Alec had and was suffering worse than he could imagine. It was hard to imagine what kind of mental torture White must have inflicted on X5-494 that could lay him so low.  
  
Offering up a silent prayer for Max's safety, Logan returned to the city view and waiting.

* * *

The bar was exactly what Max had imagined – dark and cavernous like a lair, where anonymity was easily found. Slipping through the back way, she secreted herself in a shadowy corner while she looked for her prey. Sure enough, like a basking snake, Ames was sitting in a booth on the opposite side of the room, his dark eyes eerily lit with the glow of the candle in front of him. A smile curled the edges of his mouth and he bore a boastful, smug expression which Max longed to wipe from his face. But time was of the essence. In order to get the correct vocal phonemes out of him, she needed to wait for the perfect moment and get him outside. The music and bustle noise inside would distort the sound files too much.  
  
Instead, Max had to content herself with watching her prey. It felt satisfying to be on this end of the chain – predator, powerful.  
  
She didn't have to wait long before White settled his bill and, glancing round the room, got up to leave. Max pressed herself further into the corner, avoiding his heated glare, then she followed him at a discreet distance. Like a dozy fly, he seemed to fall right into her web, turning down a deserted alley where he had parked his car. The passenger seats were empty – he had definitely come alone.  
  
"Fancy meeting you here. Doesn't the conclave have its own bar?" Max stepped out from the darkness in front of him. She felt a moment's pride when she recognised the brief flicker of uncertainty cross his face. She had taken him by surprise.  
  
"452. I have to say, I did wonder how long I'd have to wait before you came calling. How's 494?"  
  
The smirk returned all too quickly and Max gritted her teeth, balling her fist tightly. "What did you do to him?"  
  
"Interesting leading question," White bantered. "I wasn't sure which question you'd consider the most important – what, why, how? They're all equally futile trains of thought." Beneath his indifferent demeanour, Ames struggled to think of a trade good enough for an X5. Unfortunately, his stooges had really fucked things up this time. No Manticore escapee in their right mind would accept any offer he suggested. The only trade would have to match the importance of 494. Thanks to Max's unsentimental attitude, there were few people who held importance to her. He would have to work on that. For now, all he could was withhold information – keep her at his mercy.  
  
"What did you do to him?" Max repeated her question tersely. She was only playing the role for a few minutes before trying to get the sound bytes out of him but the question was heartfelt enough. She truly didn't understand what he had done to Alec and why. So they had destroyed him mentally and doped him up on drugs, but why? "You know there were easier ways to figure out our weaknesses, Ames. It all seems pretty elaborate just to break one of us down, not to mention kind of pointless. So now I'm wondering – was it all just down to alleviating boredom or was their a grander scheme in mind?"  
  
White swallowed, aware of the eggshells he was walking on. He was relieved that she hadn't worked out that Alec was now the top secret filing cabinet for everything on the conclave and Manticore. It gave him hope and a good reason to just do away with 452. "Hey, a guy's got to get his kicks somewhere. The conclave wanted to test a new drug. I swear, I had no idea how debilitating the effects would be," he feigned remorse.  
  
Max bit back the urge to punch him and decided that she'd wasted enough time on Ames. Alec needed her and she wouldn't be helping him until White had said the phonemes Logan needed for the voice activation of the safe. "Don't worry, I've got friends working on a cure. It's only a matter of time before we reverse what you did." She felt proud of the perfected mix of arrogance and uncertainty in her voice. From the expression on White's face, she might even have convinced him. "You ever hear of the laudocopia nexus?" she asked, praying he repeated the words.  
  
Sure enough, a flicker of a frown crossed White's face. "Laudocopia nexus?" Max suppressed a grin. The transmitter would already have zapped those precious words to Logan who would be piecing together the voice activation code as she stood here. Oblivious to his faux pas, White simply stood and stared at her. Now Max just had to make her exit plausible. The last thing they needed was for him to figure out her ploy.  
  
"Never mind," she dismissed the point. "Listen, I didn't come here to fight."  
  
"No?" White sounded genuinely surprised. "Then what did you come for?"  
  
"To make a deal. I want Alec back."  
  
"I thought you just said you had people working on it. Do I detect a lack of confidence in their ability?" Ames riled.  
  
"Don't mess with me, Ames. I'm not dumb enough to believe that you'd bother destroying an X5 if it could be reversed." Max wished she could wrap this up quicker.  
  
"What would you give me in return?" White eyed her suspiciously.  
  
"We'd leave, for good," she lied.  
  
"Leave? Where?"  
  
"The country."  
  
White paused, his onyx gaze wandering over Max's face. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest. "Just for one X5? All your kind would sacrifice that freedom for the sake of one of you?" Max's throat suddenly felt tight and dry. "I don't believe you." His gaze hardened and she felt frozen still. Had he figured out her ruse? "Either you think I'm a fool or you're a step ahead of me." He moved closer to her then thought better of it and took a pace back to his car. "You won't be ahead of me for long, 452. Your friend's life hangs by a thread." He clipped his fingers together in a scissor motion. "Don't forget that."  
  
Turning his back confidently on her, White stepped into his car and skidded on the damp tarmac as he sped out of the alley, leaving Max alone. She had to act fast before White had a chance to catch up with her.  
  
END OF PART 10  
  
Not the longest part I know, but I thought I'd better get it up fast! More soon, I promise. 


	11. Chapter 11

MAKE ME MAD  
  
By Allegra  
  
See Part one for disclaimers etc.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for the delay. I apologise for my extreme liberties about the machinations of the brain. I know they are horribly incorrect but I knew that if I began to try & make this thing that real I'd end up writing some kind of medical thesis instead of the action/adventure story I wanted. Plus, my idea is, no doubt, completely unfeasible, and I was quite pleased with the whole story so far. So, it is partly out of selfishness that I refused to do research on this bit.  
  
There's a bit more focus on Alec coming up. I hope you like it!  
  
PART 11  
  
"Give me the address of that safe house," Max demanded, skipping over the usual phone civilities. There was silence for a second at the other end of the line and impatience got the better of the X5. "Logan! Are you there?"  
  
"Yes, I'm here," came the tired reply. "I'm not superhuman, Max." Hell, I'm not even average human, he thought bitterly to himself.  
  
Max checked herself. She knew how unreasonable she was being but she would be the same if it were Logan lying practically comatose in that bed. She had been there once with him before. How many more times would she have to stand helplessly by while one of her own was brought low. At least this time she stood some kind of chance of reversing the problem. Only if they kept ahead of White's game. "I'm sorry," she managed. "It's just that I don't think we've got much time. We have to do this thing now before White catches up with us."  
  
Logan pulled up the co-ordinates from his computer. "What do you mean? What happened?"  
  
"He was really wary, more than normal. I think he figured out we were stalling him for some reason. Anyway, we can talk about him later. Right now I've got to get in and out of that building before he works out what we're up to." Max memorised the address, stepping into full super soldier mode. "Is someone watching White again?"  
  
"Yep. Don't worry," Logan assured her.  
  
"Just give me the heads-up if he starts coming my way. I'll contact you when I'm in. Wish me luck?" Max asked.  
  
Logan wished he could tell her she didn't need it, but that would be a lie. "Good luck and be careful."

* * *

Oblivious to the dangerous mission being carried out on his behalf, Alec lay prostrate on Logan's bed, exactly as he had been left earlier. His body did not move, barely a twitch but for the shallow rise and fall of his chest. The room was eerily quiet, as if Death himself hovered over it, draping every object with ominous shadows. Yet, under the surface, Alec's mind was slowly returning to life.  
  
He wrestled with the mess of indecipherable images and sounds circling in his brain. None of them made any sense; some were vaguely familiar, others completely alien to him. He saw hundreds of faces of all nationalities. Occasionally, a face smiled at him as if it truly saw him in there. Alec desperately wanted to call out to them, to communicate and feel comfort but he didn't know how. He was mute and frozen within himself. Then the voices came. They whispered gently, slowly ascending into muffled murmurs. The sound increased, laced with static, and he struggled to understand what they were saying. The words were unintelligible to him.  
  
At first they soothed him with their soft, lulling voices. Then, the tones grew harsher and louder. Alec still could not understand them but he could tell that they were no longer friendly voices. They were warning him, threatening him, abusing him. He tried to retreat but there was no corner of his mind unoccupied by sound and danger. His brain sent messages to his body of pain and discomfort.  
  
His hands reflexively moved to protect himself, then to scratch at the itching and crawling under his skin. His nails dug into his flesh, first making the skin red and raw, then drawing blood as the scratching grew more vigorous. Oblivious to his actions, Alec injured himself further as he lost what little remained of his sane mind.

* * *

It didn't take long for Max to make it through the front door and this made her suspicious. White knew the skills of a Manticore X5 and, with a project of this magnitude, he would not have taken any chances. Why wasn't the place booby trapped? She moved stealthily across the floor of the small foyer, from pillar to pillar, ever watchful of the cameras dotted around the room. So far so good, she thought, as she reached the last pillar before the sleeping security guard's desk.  
  
She expected he was one of White's super strong familiars. After all, secret projects always required the best heavies going and, short of an X5, you couldn't get much more formidable. Max was prepared for a fight but she was more than capable of snapping the man's neck if he continued sleeping like this.  
  
Moving around the desk on tiptoes, she deftly grabbed his chin with one hand and the top of his head with the other then twisted in a violent, jerking motion. His head drooped forward onto his chest as Max moved away towards the elevator. She looked at the long list of possible floors to try. 'Why can't he just write 'secret safe' and make my life easier?' Max thought to herself.  
  
Sighing, she made a guess based on the other options available. White's safe would be the most high security part of the building - probably one of the upper floors with few escape routes and lots of chances to be caught. The doors slid open to reveal a fancy foyer with lots of glass and leather accoutrements. Just the sort of place one would expect to find the people with the power or, at least, the money.  
  
Max took no chances. She slid out of the shaft and did a forward roll towards the reception desk, hiding underneath it for a second. She needed to scope the place out, find all the cameras and make sure no one was pacing around. The coast was fairly clear and no sound could be heard anywhere on the floor.  
  
She made her first move, tiptoeing past a few glass offices. The corridor was longer than Max had expected and it had few hiding places. She didn't like feeling this vulnerable. Then, as if in answer to her fears, the clomping sound of feet could be heard coming round the corner. Max's heart skipped a beat and she dove for the first glass door. It was locked. She tried the next one. Locked again. Just as she caught sight of a black shoe rounding the corner into the corridor, God smiled on her and the next door opened.  
  
Max twisted the floor to ceiling blinds a little more in order to hide herself further as she carefully closed the door. The footsteps were coming closer but it sounded as if there was only one pair of feet. Those were fair odds and Max was grateful for the glass now that she was in safety. It allowed a chance to scope out the opposition.  
  
The person passed the door and Max could see that she was, indeed, one of White's familiars. It was written all over her, the burly confidence, the flashing eyes, hungry for a fight. If she had not been genetically advanced herself, Max would be afraid of her. As it was, all she looked for where her weaknesses, not a place to hide. It would be a whole lot easier to do the job without any mess but, if needs be...  
  
The woman marched past without so much as a second glance in the direction of Max's hiding place. The X5 waited until the footsteps retreated into the distance before exiting the office and continuing around the corner. Like the Holy Grail, suddenly there it was. Alec's salvation lay just beyond the vault door ahead of her. The touch pad was illuminated by green lights, like some kind of novelty prize from a game show.  
  
Max moved closer then realised that this was a dead end. If she activated her voice recording of White or contacted Logan for more information, the familiar would inevitably hear her. Max's only option was to take the woman out before she began. She could wait until the familiar heard her, then fight it out like any civil warrior. But, Max knew that the element of surprise was an advantage indeed. Placing the transmitter just inside the nearest office door, Max returned the way she had come in hope of finding herself an unworthy opponent.  
  
Like a cat preying on a mouse, it didn't take long to find the familiar. She was pacing the mirror corridors on the opposite side of the reception area. Max moved out behind her quickly, slamming the woman's head hard into the wall. She might not be able to make her feel pain, but Max figured she could certainly stun and disorient her a little while biding some time.  
  
Yanking the woman's long blonde ponytail back, Max forced her neck into a horrific position. The familiar's hands grabbed at her attacker but the awkward position meant that she failed to maintain any grip on Max. Max tried to replicate what she had done to the security guard but, against a struggling opponent, it was much harder.  
  
The familiar suddenly kicked out backwards into Max's shin, momentarily loosening the grip on her hair enough to spin around. Her mouth was open in a satisfied smile, like a tiger about to close in on it's kill. Max jumped backwards to reassert herself. The familiar did the same, both fighters weighing up one another and what their next move might be. Unbeknownst to her though, Max had the advantage. The familiar might be built for this but she did not have the power of emotion spurring her to win this fight. Max was brimming with anger at what White had done to Alec. She might not be ready to take him on but she could certainly best one of his lackeys. Clearing her mind, Max leapt into a mid-air scissor jump and landed a solid blow to the woman's jaw, knocking the familiar off her feet.  
  
Before she had time to get up, Max blurred towards her and spun the familiar over, wrenching her arm behind her back. She heard the bones snap like twigs under her vice-like grip. The woman roared in fury but was helpless. Max managed to break the other arm before delivering a blow to the familiar's skull which knocked her senseless.  
  
High on the adrenaline rush, Max felt anger she had rarely experienced. Dragging the familiar to the emergency exit, she pulled her up the concrete steps to the roof. There, Max tied her up and dangled her unceremoniously by her feet from the roof edge. That would keep her busy until Max had finished. Without another thought, she headed back inside to the vault room. Finally, she could get on with the job at hand.  
  
Max made a quick scope around the floor once more just to ensure there wouldn't be any nasty surprises of the familiar kind. When she was sure the coast was clear, she retrieved the transmitter and voice encoder from inside the office door and quickly dialled Logan's number. He picked up immediately. "Are you in?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm looking at the activator pad right now."  
  
"Right. Take a picture of it and send it to me. It'll save us time." Max didn't bother to argue. Logan was usually right when it came to technical mayhem and, from the look of the touch pad, she would only stuff it up on her own. Capturing a close-up image of the pad, Max sent it and waited a few seconds. "Got it?"  
  
"Got it. Right, I've got the code name here. All we need to do is input the correct password phrase into the machine and you're in."  
  
"You make it sound so easy," Max jibed. "But you said the recording was muffled. How do we know the whole building won't lock down if we put in the wrong thing?"  
  
"We don't. That's just a risk we're going to have to take." Logan wished he had better news but he had to trust that Max could take care of herself.  
  
Max released a pent up breath and held up the recording pad. "Fine, let's get this over with. What does it say?" Logan repeated a foreign sounding password phrase which he pronounced phonetically while Max punched the letters in one by one. "Right, play that back to me. Just to check," Logan said.  
  
Max held the recording pad up to her cell phone and played the garbled sentence back to him. "How does that sound?"  
  
"I'm not sure about the second syllable. It sounds more like 'tabe'. Change the 't' to an 's'." Logan barely noticed that he was sweating, as if he were right there in the action with Max. Typically, she sounded completely calm at the other end of the cell, as if she were ordering from a drive-in diner.  
  
"Are you sure?" Max asked, changing the letter. "Listen now," she said, playing the recording again. Logan seemed satisfied but something in his voice made her hesitate. "Logan, don't wimp out on me. Do you think this is the password or not? We can't afford to be wrong."  
  
Logan tried to inject some conviction into his voice, difficult as it was. "Yes, yes, I think, I mean I'm pretty sure...Yes, just do it, Max." He glanced at the screen capture of the entrance pad in front of him. "Right, now press the button with the loudspeaker on it, then listen to the instructions."  
  
Max pressed the corresponding button and a sultry female voice requested the password. Flicking the switch on the recording, Max held her breath as a slightly tinny version of White's voice filled the small corridor. It was creepy to hear his voice so detached. Max and Logan both waited with bated breath for what seemed like ages. The female voice neutrally continued, "Password denied. One more incorrect entry and assistance will be called."  
  
"Right. Thank God it didn't set the alarms off yet. What have we got to change now? Logan?"  
  
Logan was still reeling from the joy of discovering they had another chance only to suddenly feel the sinking sensation of knowing he might not fair any better the second and final time. "Um, okay. Hold on, let me listen to the original again."  
  
Max tapped her foot impatiently. She knew Logan was doing his best but they had precious little time and it was excruciating standing in a corridor doing nothing. Suddenly, a beeping came from her pager. Pulling it out of her waistband, Max's heart lurched when she read the message. 'WHITE HEADING YOUR WAY. 10 MINS TOPS.' "Logan, we've got to hurry. White's on his way."  
  
"Okay, okay, I'm working as fast as I can." He pushed his glasses further up his nose as he compared the two recordings. "Okay, I think I've got something. Change the short vowel 'a' to a long one."  
  
Max didn't bother to double check this time. She had to get inside that room, even if it meant blasting the front of it herself. Her heart was regulating it's beat as it was supposed to do but she knew if she'd been human, it would be bursting out of her chest. To her relief, the female voice replied, "Password accepted. Welcome, Ames." Soundlessly, the door slid open and Max slipped inside.  
  
She quickly took in everything that was around her. At first glance, the room appeared to be little more than an average medical lab. There were cupboards, backlit with sterile strip lighting, displaying an impressive array of bottles and ampoules. Max had expected a glorified storage unit but the lab was kitted out to be used as a proper medical facility. To her surprise, there were emergency defibrillators, a worrying selection of utensils for operations, covered over with a green cloth. A gurney was set up in the centre of the room and the soft leather restraints made the X5's heart sink with trepidation. White wasn't just protecting some cure in here. Alec might have been here, tortured, sliced and invaded. It chilled her to the bone to imagine the atrocities which might have taken place in this very room.  
  
"Max?" Logan's urgent voice came over her walkie-talkie, snapping her out of her reverie.  
  
"Yeah, I'm in. I'll grab what I can." She tore open the black bag she had brought and moved methodically along the shelves, retrieving a bottle of everything she could get her hands on. It would take too long to examine each bottle and, with her limited medical knowledge, would probably end up forgetting the most vital vials. Max was careful to move other containers forward to fill any gaps so that, on casual inspection, there would be nothing amiss.  
  
The beeper went again and Max looked at the message displayed there. 'WHITE ENTERING BUILDING. GET OUT NOW.'  
  
Gritting her teeth, Max continued moving around the room, ignoring how many hundreds of bottles she still had to go. It would only incite panic to feel rushed. As far as her genetically enhanced brain was concerned, there was nothing to hurry her. By the time she made it to the final cupboard, Max turned her attention to a pile of books and manuals resting on a table top. Grabbing all of them, she stuffed them in the black bag and headed back to the hallway.  
  
The door slid soundlessly closed behind her and Max began her making a stealthy retreat back to the elevator. No sooner had she made it to the first corner than she heard the elevator doors open beyond. "Shit," she cursed in her mind. It would only be a moment before White was right in front of her and the roof access door was further on. There was no way she could make it there before him. Instead, Max ducked into the closest office door.  
  
White's footsteps could be heard approaching and, to Max's horror, she had found the only glass office with no blinds onto the outside corridor. She was about to make a blur for the desk but White's black shoe was already appearing round the corner. Instead, Max flung herself to the floor and pressed herself to the ground, grateful for her dark outfit against the black carpet. She daren't turn her head away from the window and risk any attention-drawing movement. Frozen, Max held her breath as White passed the office.  
  
Max could see the cold, hard smile and demonic twinkle in his eyes. He looked so human, yet there was nothing in any fibre of his being that could withhold such judgement. Ames White did not possess a human emotion. He was walking towards a room he had devised entirely for the purposes of torture and yet he smiled. It was a smile of pure and unadulterated pleasure, like a child being taken to a sweet shop or to choose a new toy.  
  
The X5 resisted the urge to burst through the door and tackle him to the ground. Max wanted nothing more than to see that smile wiped from White's face in a gush of blood and broken bones. Then she was reminded of why she was here. Alec's life still hung in the balance and the bag she was still clutching might hold his salvation. White would not have the satisfaction of jeopardising that. Waiting until she heard the voice activation acknowledge the man's authority outside his secret chamber, Max slipped out of the room. She could take the elevator back down but instinct told her to be safe this time. Risks were not worth taking right now. Instead, she headed for the roof and used her good old burgling techniques to scale the building, leaving the familiar still dangling where she had been left.

* * *

By the time Max made it back to Logan's apartment, her mind was cleared of the clouding anger she had felt in the presence of White. She worried sometimes that humanity was creeping too readily back into her system. The transgenics were engineered not to feel emotion, not to let them get in the way of completing a mission. Yet, Max had done so time and again. Love, affection, care, anger, hatred, frustration, countless emotions burned inside her and affected every move she made. It made her feel weak but it also comforted her to know that she was not a mere robot under Lydecker's control anymore. What she felt was her own.  
  
A smile crossed her lips to know that she had swiped information from under White's nose so easily but it faded when Max stepped into Logan's apartment. The place was a mess. Furniture was tipped over, papers littered the floor. Max dropped the bag beside the door and moved with care through the debris. There was every sign of a struggle and she feared the worst. Had White played her, too? Had he taken Alec...or Logan? Worse still, would she find the bodies of her surrogate family beyond the next corner?  
  
END OF PART 11  
  
How's that for a cliff hanger? Figured we hadn't had a good one for a while, so I hope this satisfies a little. Admittedly, I haven't got quite as far with the Alec stuff as I would have liked but there will be lots in the next part, I promise. Now, please, please, please, please, please review for me! Just a little one, just a sentence, a word even. Pretty please! 


	12. Chapter 12

MAKE ME MAD

By Allegra

See Part 1 for disclaimers etc.

PART 12

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing despite my laziness concerning this fic. I just lost touch with the DA vibe and couldn't recover it. I suppose I have 'Supernatural' to thank a bit for my resurge of interest in sorting Alec out again. Special thanks for the really encouraging reviews from darkangelgirl262, Silverwolf 2006, Ruby Fuhlrodt, CandyCentric, Claire, RiaSpark17, Chaigrl, Michelle and the message from bjxmas. You guys spurred me into action once more when I honestly thought this story was going to one of those shameful fictions that dies before its time!

* * *

"Logan?" Max suppressed the anxiety in her voice but White's words still rang in her head. Surely he couldn't have caught up with her already? Perhaps she had been a fool to underestimate him and turn her back on the conclave for as long as she had. A groan caught her attention and she dropped her guard, pushing through the rubbish strewn across the floor until she saw the telltale spiky hair. "Logan!" 

He groaned as Max pulled him into an upright position beside his desk and surveyed the damage. The worst was a gash across his head, probably the reason he had been unconscious. Logan adjusted his glasses blearily, drawing in a sharp hiss of breath as he allowed Max to draw him across the room and onto the couch. "Are you okay?" He looked into the dark brown eyes, brow furrowed with concern.

"Yeah, I will be. It's just…my head," he winced, closing his eyes against the wave of pain.

"You've got a nasty cut." Max whipped a tissue from the box beside the couch and dabbed lightly at the trickle of blood already congealing above Logan's left eye. "What happened?"

Logan paused for a moment, slowly reliving the moments before the darkness had claimed him. "I was working right there," he pointed to the desk. "Then I heard a noise, someone behind me."

Max jumped in, "White?"

Logan shook his head, regretting the action in an instant as his head swam. "Alec," he ground out through clenched teeth. He tried not to take it personally when Max's face instantly contorted into an expression of sheer emotional agony. "I tried to ward him off, but he was just too strong. He was dazed and I tried to calm him but he just kept lashing out. I don't know what happened after that."

Max stood upright and strode over to Logan's bedroom, hardly expecting to find her fellow X5 there at all. The room was more or less intact with no sign of struggle here. The bed still bore the light dent of Alec's emaciated body. Casting her eyes around the room, Max sat miserably on the corner of the bed. For all his shortcomings, Alec was a brother to her now. What she would give to have him in front of her once more, his mouth turned up in the sly grin that just made Max want to punch his lights out.

She traced one hand lightly over the dent in the pillow where his head had rested mere hours ago. It was then that her hyped feline senses detected a presence in the room, her ears singling out the erratic breathing of a second body nearby. "Alec?" she whispered, hardly daring to believe he was still in her grasp.

Her eyes narrowed as Max recognised the shadow curled against the wall in the darkest corner beside the bed. "Alec," she called, crouching down beside him. She reached up and switched on the table lamp. He instantly flinched away with a whimper. "Alec, it's me. It's Max."

She touched one hand to his knee but he recoiled, turning his face from hers, mumbling something unintelligible. "Alec, what is it? I rescued you. Do you remember?" Max leaned forward, trying to make out the words being repeated over and over.

Alec's head thudded back against the wall over and over again, his voice low and cracked. "This isn't real, not real, not real…"

"What's not real, Alec? You're safe now." Max ignored the way he pulled away from her and rested one hand on his knee, reaching the other out to touch his face.

"No," he begged. It struck horror in her heart to see him like this. She had never believed it possible to break someone as effectively as Manticore could, but White had found the way to push all the right buttons and inflict suffering Lydecker would be proud of.

"Alec, look at me. It's Max. I'm here to help you." She forced his face away from the wall but his glazed eyes refused to register her in his field of vision. Gulping down a breath, Max prepared to try the words she had promised never to utter. Even so, Alec knew the name Manticore had given him better than any alias he had adopted in the outside world. If she was to get through to him, it would have to be on terms he remembered. "X5-494," she demanded, clearly. For a second she thought he wasn't going to budge but then a flicker of recognition showed in those hazel eyes. Max smiled, "There we go. X5-494? You remember that? But you remember we gave you a new name, a real name. Alec." Max watched, apprehensively, as Alec's face ranged through several emotions until the clarity of hope gave way to hollow sadness and the glazed eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

"Alec?" Max begged, not ready for him to break down in front of her. "Alec, do you remember anything? White took you, sent you away. He drugged you, brainwashed you…but you're safe now. Logan and I will take care of you." She glanced up to where Logan now stood, framing the doorway, one hand pressing the tissue against his forehead.

Alec followed her gaze, blinking away the tears defiantly. For a second, Max was afraid he would bolt again but the X5 did not move. His eyes were wary, disbelieving. "I can't…"

"Can't what?" Max encouraged. Their eyes locked, his full of fear and confusion, hers a warm anchor to the real world. His mouth moved but no sound came out. Recognising his frustration, she squeezed his bony hand in hers. "Don't worry, Alec. We're going to work through this together. I found what they were pumping into you. We'll reverse it, I promise."

Alec tugged his hand free from hers, hugging his arms to his chest but his eyes never left Max's face. "They said…" He swallowed, unwilling or unable to continue for a moment. "They said it's not real. It's not real."

"What's not real?"

"Alec, 494…494…4…" he trailed off, testing the numbers out loud. "They don't mean anything." His brow furrowed in anxious concentration and Alec pressed his hands into his eye sockets, willing the random images out of his head.

Max wanted to tell him the truth but that was worse than believing Manticore had never existed, that he wasn't created in a test tube, his genetic material inalterably tampered with. Right now she would have to settle for comfort until he was stronger and until she and Logan could figure out exactly what had been done to him. "I know. Just hang in there. We'll figure this whole thing out." She reached one arm around his resisting shoulders but he barely had the strength to shrug her off. "Come on, let's fix you something to eat."

Steering Alec into the kitchen was like shepherding a zombie. He was completely malleable, following her without question or complaint but, worst of all, without any sense of direction. She linked his arm through hers and gently pushed him down onto one of the stools. His eyes flitted around the space, never settling on anything long enough to see it properly. Max swallowed back the fear and filled the kettle with water. She stroked one hand through Alec's hair as she passed, once again ignoring the way he flinched away from her. He needed to remember what it was like to be touched, to know that it did not always come with pain.

As she withdrew her hand, Max noticed the small red circular marks visible against the white skin of Alec's temples. 'Damn them,' she thought.

* * *

Alec had eaten without complaint or conversation and fell asleep on the couch, giving Max and Logan a chance to reconsider the situation. "How's your head?" 

"Better, thanks," Logan smiled, knowing Max didn't really want to hear that it was still pounding like someone using his brain for a running machine. "I put some clothes out for Alec on the bed. They probably won't fit right, but I figured they're better than hospital scrubs."

"Thanks," Max said, distractedly. "I'll get some of his own from Joshua's later. He needs familiarity to trigger his memories."

"Maybe just recovering from the drug will do that anyway," Logan offered, hopefully.

"I wouldn't be too sure. They did something to his brain, Logan. I saw the marks, some kind of electro shock treatment or brain stimulation. I don't know that, even without the drugs, his brain is even the same anymore." Max's eyes drifted over to the sleeping form of her friend, barely able to reconcile the still, wraith-like form sleeping on the couch, one hand curled against his chest, the other open beside his face. His eyelashes were black against the chilled pallor of his skin, only emphasising the bruising shadows beneath his closed eyes. Only the shell resembled the Alec she had seen before they had argued and he had disappeared. "Plus the drug withdrawal won't be pretty, for sure."

Logan struggled to find the words Max needed to hear, desperate to ease her mind but knowing there was very little he could do. He cared about Alec because she did. "I'll get Dr. Muir on the phone."

"What for?" Max asked, concerned about exposing Alec to any more medical interference than he had already experienced.

"Well, if you're right about White tampering with his brain, we need to know the extent of the damage, if any of it is reparable. We could get Alec scanned and figure out exactly what we're dealing with. Plus Dr. Muir could analyse the vials you recovered. After all, you don't want to shoot Alec with a completely alien drug concoction, right?"

Max nodded, recognising the truth of Logan's words. He was taking the step she was unwilling to take. Once they discovered what had been done to Alec's brain there was no going back. She was afraid of the worst, that this new version of him would remain forever, a brutal reminder of what White and his conclave were capable of. "You're right. I just don't think we're going to get Alec into a hospital environment without a struggle."

"Maybe Muir could bring it to us," Logan suggested.

"No, there's too much equipment. I'll talk to him," Max proposed, already sensing the apprehension in Logan that she harboured herself.

"And if that doesn't work?"

"I guess we'll just have to sedate him." Seeing the expression on Logan's face, Max quickly added, "I hate the idea of more drugs as much as you do, but if it's the only way to cure him, then that's what we have to do." Once again, her gaze wandered to the sleeping form, so vulnerable and thin. "I'll talk to him as soon as he wakes up."

END OF PART 12

Sorry it's short but the next part has already been started, plus it's the summer hols so I'm hoping that will keep me writing! But, of course, the best incentive is the blessed review!


	13. Chapter 13

MAKE ME MAD

By Allegra

See Part 1 for disclaimers etc.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: See! I did it! I actually updated in less than six months. I think I'm on a roll now. On the technical side of this chapter, I have just been enjoying going with the flow and I didn't want to get too bogged down with the reality of brain chemistry when I'm writing something that's fantasy. So, I apologise in advance to anyone who knows, well, pretty much anything more than I do about the subject. I've kept the science sketchy so that we can just enjoy the ride of Alec's demise & hopefully, eventually, his recovery. I'm sorry if 'MMM' resembles any other stories. I haven't read those ones but I hope this story doesn't stomp too much over ground already well covered.

The biggest, hugest 'thank you' to everyone who has been kind enough to review. You are so wonderful! Plus, thank you to Panda for re-inviting me back to GBM & sorting out the mess I always make of posting my chapters! You're a star!

CHAPTER 13

The decision had been quickly and simply made. There was no way forward other than somehow getting Alec to Harbour Lights. It pained Max to think how she was going to explain what was happening to him because she understood how frightened Alec was going to be. She may not have seen the 'treatments' he had undergone at Pineview, but the memory of how washed out and broken he had looked when she had first seen him still haunted Max. The fear of re-indoctrination at Manticore had been considered by the X5s as the worst kind of human torture possible. The scientists and doctors involved had no concept of mercy or consideration for the pain of their victims. The process was intended to break down the patients until there was nothing left of them. They were mere lab rats to these people and Max could only imagine how much worse White's treatments must have been.

Steeling herself for the task ahead, Max squatted down beside where Alec was sleeping on the couch. "Alec?" she whispered, still unsure what to call him. His number swam into her head but she refused to use it. That was a last resort. They were people now and people had names not batch numbers.

At first there was no response and Max ran her fingers along the top of his hand, afraid of jarring him awake. Alec shifted uncertainly under her touch and Max swore she saw a flinch in the tightening muscles of his face. His brow furrowed and he mumbled something under his breath. "Alec? Wake up." His eyelids flickered and Max wasn't quite ready for the forlorn hazel gaze that suddenly met hers. He looked so lost, a state she had never seen in Alec before. She felt tears prickling behind her eyes but refused to let them fall. There was no part of the young man she had known in there. Maybe she had rescued him too late. The damage had been done. Whatever White had set out to do, perhaps he had succeeded.

"Max?" Logan's questioning voice rose behind her. "Are we ready to go?"

Max turned a threatening glare on him, her sudden protectiveness towards Alec rising to the surface. She knew only too well how threatened Logan felt, had always felt, towards the X5. The two men in her life could not be further in extremes – Logan clever while Alec ran headlong into scrapes without considering the consequences, Logan crippled while Alec held super powers beyond any human capabilities. There were plenty of reasons for Logan to be jealous, but Max 's doting on him had always given him the upper hand. Now her attention was divided, turned from him, and he clearly struggled to fight the resentful urges Logan harboured. "Just give him a minute," she snapped.

Alec was already pulling himself up into a sitting position, rubbing a hand across his sleepy eyes. "What?" The sleep had clearly done him some good. He seemed less on edge, more aware of his surroundings. "Listen, Alec, we have to get you to a hospital." Max put a placating hand on his knee when she saw the shadow of anxiety flickering across his face. "Don't worry, we won't leave you there, but we need to know what has happened to you." She paused a second, then pushed further. "Do you remember what happened at Pineview?"

Alec stared at her, his eyes searching her face for something to latch onto. He tried to think beyond the blinding pain that had consumed him, beyond the fog of drugs they had kept him doped up on. "I don't know." His voice sounded cracked and small, "I can't remember. Everything's hazy…"

Max rubbed his shoulder, comfortingly. "It's okay. Don't worry. We're going to figure this out." She levelled her gaze with his, trying to reach through his vulnerability and into the toughened core of the Alec she remembered. "But you have to come with me to the hospital."

He hung his head for a second, nodding wearily in attempt to will himself on. He knew it was the only way but he couldn't rely on his body not to betray him, not to fight the panic that grew inside him with every waking moment. "I know." Alec looked back at Max, her face so familiar to him. How could this be a lie? She was a figment of his imagination, wasn't she? Then he felt her hand on his cheek, so warm and real. Was this just another hallucination, part of life his over-active brain had invented along with Manticore and the belief that he was some kind of genetic experiment? Yet, this felt like the reality. It tore him apart inside to believe that it might not be true, because he wanted so badly to stay here with Max.

"Alec?" Her voice was gentle but urging. "Are you okay?"

He nodded mutely, ignoring the tingle of tears at his eyes. If this was real, he felt safe with her. If it was a fantasy of his twisted imagination, then nothing could befall him. The hospital was nothing more than a bad dream. "I'm ready." He pulled himself unsteadily to his feet, swaying for a moment and Max slipped one hand around his waist to help him.

Logan opened the door to the elevator for them, shouldering the weight of the bag with a variety of different vials Max had purloined from White's hideout.

* * *

Max was grateful to Logan for driving. Regardless of the impossibility of getting Alec onto her bike, as a passenger she was able to spend time with him without it seeming forced. Even though he was no more than a shell of the man she had known, it still felt strange to be devoting so much time and care to him. Although she barely admitted it to herself, Max could see a more than passing character resemblance to Ben. It was like she had been given a second chance for atonement, to fix the boy who had been broken. 

Alec leaned his head against the window, his gaze glassy and unseeing. He seemed sluggish now, his heavy eyelids closing for minutes at a time before jolting awake. His hands gripped the seat nervously as they neared the bright frontage of Harbour Lights and Max wanted to reassure him, but the words were empty. Alec's demons were way beyond her reach and only he could lock them away.

They had agreed to meet Dr. Muir there. He did consulting at the hospital from time to time so would be able to move around unnoticed as well as elicit help from people without question. He was standing, a lonely dark figure, outside one of the many side exits of the building, a hat pulled down hard over his head to keep out the rain. He recognised Logan's modified disabled car immediately and started to walk towards them.

Max opened the door and moved around the car to help Alec out, but he was already pulling himself onto the tarmac, his limbs visibly shaking. Small beads of sweat stood out along his forehead and Max wondered how much of it was due to withdrawal from the drug he had been doped with during his stay at Pineview and how much was fear.

"Hey doc," Max greeted him as pleasantly as she could under the circumstances. "Thanks for doing this. I know it's putting your career at risk."

Muir turned a warm smile on her, instantly melting her fear that he would back out on them. "Well, missy, thank you for the concern. If they retire me a few years early, I don't think I'd mind too much. Plus, who could turn down an opportunity like this to study a transgenic?" He caught Max's suddenly frosty glare. "That was thoughtless. I only mean from a scientific point of view, my dear. Your secret is safe with me. It's just pretty rare to get close to such genius of genetics."

"Genius?" Max sneered. "I guess if you weren't living it." She took the bag from Logan, "Are you coming?"

"No, I'm going to go park the car. I'll be waiting for you out here." Logan forced a pursed smile to his lips. Max nodded mutely. She knew how much he hated hospitals from too many hours spent lying in beds or in physiotherapy. Perhaps it was better this way anyway. He and Alec had never had the best of relationships and to see her devote such time to him must tear at him.

Steering Alec through the doors, Dr. Muir led the pair to the elevator and it took all of Max's super senses to keep track of the twists and turns they took. She always liked to know where the exits were, in case of trouble. She wanted to trust Muir but, he had said it himself, it was a windfall to have a transgenic to play with and Max didn't want to rely solely on his lead. He was in his own domain after all. He could inject both her and Alec with any drug he liked and they'd both end up in Pineview, useless to each other. Pushing the negative thoughts from her head, Max glanced over at Alec who was meekly following the doctor's lead. She could clearly see the way he clenched his fists tightly as if poised to punch, but Max knew it came from fear. Alec was broken, so she had to be strong for both of them.

"Here we are," Muir said. "I took the liberty of booking the scanner earlier today. No one should bother us for at least half an hour." He opened the door for the two transgenics and led them past the scanner to an adjacent room. Muir looked at Alec, taking in the shivers and the sweat. "There's a gown inside. Get changed into that and we'll see if we can't figure out what's going on inside that head of yours." He smiled, the same smile he had given Max outside the hospital, only now she saw it with a gleam of sadism. She hoped Logan was right about Muir's credentials. She had been tempted to go in with Alec but now she decided it was a much better idea to stay at the doctor's side. Nothing was going to slip past her.

"Do you know what you're looking for?" Max asked, glancing around the room for any evidence of foul play. The room was bare except for the scanner which sat ominously in the centre of the room like a double bed.

"Not exactly. My knowledge of brain science is good, I've done surgery a few times, but it's a complicated piece of matter. One can never anticipate what's going to show up. I just hope I recognise it if it does," he said, bleakly.

"That doesn't exactly allay my fears," Max said, shortly. "Logan said…I thought you knew what you were doing."

"Oh, I do," Muir defended. "I've just never looked inside a transgenic brain before, that's all. Don't worry, Max. I will do my very best for Alec." He looked at Max's unresponsive face. He didn't need a show of emotions to guess what was going through her mind. "Max, I know you don't trust me and I don't expect you to. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to find anyone to confide in when you come from a place like this Manticore, especially with the police trying to get a piece of you at every corner. So, I'm going to say this only once, since you came to me for help so I don't really need to explain myself to you. I have Alec's best interests at heart. Logan called me because I owe him and because he is a good friend. I've known about 'Eyes Only' for a long time now, but you don't see me cashing in on the fact now, do you? I haven't come here for selfish gain. I know you are concerned about your friend but, please, have a little faith in me."

Max was momentarily overwhelmed by random thoughts and fears, both rational and irrational, rushing round her head. One thing held fast though, that he had known about 'Eyes Only'. Logan was an easy target and it wouldn't take much to expose him. Plus, Muir was right. She needed to have faith that he could bring the old smart Alec back to her. She needed to believe it could happen or there was nothing. Max couldn't bear the thought of failing twice, first Ben and now Alec. "Okay," she said, betraying nothing. "I'm giving you my faith. Just don't let me down."

As she finished speaking, Alec emerged from the dressing room in his gown. He looked pale, worse than he had before. Max hoped that was just the reflection of the white gown material but she couldn't shake the fear that it was something worse. His eyes shone with an incandescence she had not seen before. It was blind fear that stoked that fire, his whole body displaying its evidence. "It's okay, Alec." She moved towards him, pressing her hand into his.

He nodded his head, rapidly, swallowing. "I know, I know. This isn't real. I can do this," he whispered, his words almost lost in the ragged breath he took. Max wasn't sure she had heard correctly but chose to ignore the statement anyway. It was only a matter of time before all this was as unreal as he thought it was and they'd both be back at Jam Pony, biting each other's backs.

Muir gestured to the scanner. "Just lie back, Alec." The young transgenic did as he was told, allowing his head to drop uncomfortably onto the head rest. His eyes darted uncertainly around the hollow cavity his body was about to enter. "Now, I'm going to have to strap you in. There's nothing to be afraid of, I just need to make sure you keep your body still." Alec looked at Dr. Muir, his hazel eyes bordering on panic once more. Max was half expecting him to jump up and run out of the room but then he nodded, curtly and lay still while Muir drew Velcro straps across his chest, hips and lower legs. "Okay, you're doing great," Muir reassured him. "Max and I are going to be right in that room over there." He pointed to the glass window above them. "I'll be able to hear everything you say and you'll be able to hear me when I use my headset. So, I want you to just relax, take some deep breaths, close your eyes."

The doctor watched Alec take several rapid breaths, clearly having difficulty calming his pounding heart. Gradually, the breaths evened out and the transgenic closed his eyes. He looked so calm and white lying there that Max could almost be fooled into thinking he was dead, were it not for the faint rise and fall of his chest.

Muir jerked his head in the direction of the control room and Max followed his lead. She watched as he deftly pressed one switch after another, letting Alec slide back into the scanner. A moment later, his brain showed up on the screen in front of them, first from the left, then head-on, the right and then the back. Various parts were lit in bright colours but Max's knowledge of human anatomy was pitiful. Aside from knowing where to cause maximum harm on impact, she had shown no interest in the topic. Something about being a human lab rat had made her lose her taste for pulling people apart.

"What are we looking at?" she asked, impatiently.

Muir's glasses reflected the light, making it impossible to see what he was thinking. He muttered something under his breath and pressed another button to allow him a good visual of the whole brain. "Just let me work," he said, when Max inhaled sharply and prepared to repeat her question.

Max resisted the urge to tap her feet and could only content herself with crossing her arms firmly across her chest and setting her jaw into a clench. Finally, Muir spoke. "Well, his brain is actually pretty much normal. I mean, I thought the transgenic brain would be…different."

"Well it's not. Is that all then? Didn't White do anything to him!" Max was incredulous. Surely Alec couldn't wind up like this on drugs alone.

"No. Something's definitely been done to his brain." Muir pointed to the screen and said, "There, look."

"Yeah, so? It's a nice little patch of blue," Max said, sarcastically. "I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking at." The moments had been passing like hours and she was worried about how Alec was bearing up inside the scanner. She grabbed the headset from where Muir had discarded it beside the monitor. "Alec, can you hear me?"

Muir looked up and then flicked a switch, allowing her to hear what the transgenic was saying. At first all she could hear was the sound of his breathing, coming in shallow, shaky drags. Then she heard his voice, thin and threaded with tension. "Yeah, I'm here."

"How's it going in there?" Max asked, hoping her voice masked her own concerns adequately enough. "Are you okay?"

"What's going on?" he blurted out. Alec had intended to keep his head screwed on straight during the procedure but, despite all his best efforts, the panic was getting the better of him. Every time he closed his eyes he was back at Pineview, a needle in his arm or strapped down for the electro shock treatment. Even with his eyes open, he only had a white dome to focus on, all too reminiscent of the surroundings he had been caged in for so long.

He could hear Max's calm voice talking in his ear but he couldn't focus on what she was saying. Alec squeezed his eyes tightly shut, desperately trying to keep track of the words coming out of her mouth but images flashed through his mind. He could see his real life, his apartment, his girlfriend, his family. They were behaving as normal, going about mundane business. Was that the reality creeping back in? Then, all he could feel was a throbbing ache somewhere deep within his skull. It caught his attention and then that was all he could concentrate on. The throbbing seemed to ebb and flow then Alec could feel his eyes smarting. He tried to lift his hands to rub his eyes but they were strapped down by the Velcro tightly pressed across his chest at elbow height. That was the last straw, sending him into a blind panic.

"Max?" His voice was barely audible even to his own ears but his throat was dry. He cleared his throat, swallowing to moisten his mouth. "Max? I can't do this….I need to get out. Let me out…" His voice rose with the strain and panic.

"It's okay, Alec. I'm coming." Alec heard her distantly speaking to Dr. Muir, the man's voice raised a little in complaint. He closed his eyes once more and tried to calm his breathing but his body was having none of it. Flashes again – his parents smiling at him over the dinner table, his girlfriend kissing him, his own face in the mirror then his own hands slashing at his wrists. Alec was lost in the moment, feeling the stickiness of his own blood on his skin, the fleeting pain as the blade cut across his flesh and then the dizziness as he moved through the loss of blood.

Nausea rose in him and it was all Alec could do not to vomit right there in the scanner. "Please!" He didn't know if his words were heard but he could already feel the tears making a path down his cheeks. "Please," he sobbed. "Let me out." A moment later he could hear the scanner whirring and felt his own body ejected from the machine. His eyes screwed tightly shut, willing himself to hold on before he was sick.

"Alec, it's okay. I'm here. You're out. You're safe." She whipped the straps off him with lightning speed, already registering the gagging reflex he was fighting. Instantly, she went to his side, supporting him as he retched over the side of the scanner. He ejected what little food he had eaten and too much fluid, but Max just sat and soothed him, her hands unconsciously running through his dark hair while she whispered words of comfort in his ear.

She was so caught up in Alec's agony that Max almost forgot about Dr. Muir. When she lifted her head, he was standing beside her and the look on his face said it all.

END OF PART 13

Sorry for any spelling errors or momentary grammatical lapses. In my eagerness to get the chapter up, I didn't check it. But, if you want to have a go at me for it, all you've got to do is hit that little review button!


	14. Chapter 14

MAKE ME MAD

By Allegra

See part one for disclaimers etc.

A HUUUUUGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEE thank you to everyone who's been reviewing for me. I can't tell you what a motivator it is and all the warm fuzzies it gives me. You are all stars! Thank you for hanging in there so long and the end is in sight (I hope)!

CHAPTER 14

Alec had been sick several times between the hospital and Logan's apartment, forcing them to stop repeatedly at the side of the road. At first, it had been brought on by his fear, but Max was starting to think differently now. This was withdrawal. Alec's shivering had increased to uncontrollable spasms that took his breath away. At moments, he struggled so hard for breath that his lips began to take on a blue tinge. Max wished there was something she could do to alleviate his discomfort but Muir had taken the vials for further testing and was reluctant to give Alec anything in the meantime. Max hated that her friend had to go through the pain cold turkey when he already had so much to contend with. She had been advised not to even give him tryptophan which had always helped control the X5s' seizures in the past. Every aid was denied to Alec and his suffering was multiplied tenfold because of it.

The original plan had been to swing by his old apartment after the hospital but, given his current condition, that was out of the question. So had the prospect of sitting down with Dr. Muir to disucss Alec's brain scan. From what little the doctor had divulged, Muir seemed a bit too anxious for Max's liking. However, when she had voiced her fears, he had downplayed the issue and said that they'd talk again when he had analysed the data.

Now, all Max could do was sit beside her fellow Manticore escapee with a cool cloth trying to keep the mounting fever at bay. Logan had left the pair alone on the pretext of meeting an old contact for drinks. Max was not convinced that was the truth but she knew how awkward he felt about the whole situation, plus Alec had pretty much taken his bed.

She had started to grow accustomed to this new Alec and that horrified Max more than anything. Watching over him, she noticed the way the hard, angular lines of his face seemed softened as she ran a damp cloth over his heated skin. His hair had grown since they left Manticore and he had not bothered to cut it and it curled gently around the curve of Alec's neck. Damp tendrils stuck to his burning forehead and dark lashes graced his pale cheeks. Max had never taken the time to think about the perfection Manticore had created, yet now here it was, encapsulated in front of her.

Alec's ragged, shallow breathing had slowly evened out in the depth of slumber and Max was grateful that he could at least find some sanctuary deep within him where the evils he had suffered could not follow. She wondered if she had been to quick to judge as a flicker of a frown creased Alec's brow and he mumbled incoherently. "Alec?" Max urged, unsure whether to rouse him or leave him to his nightmares. His face tensed for a moment, on the verge of wakefulness, before drifting away again.

Max pursed her lips, feeling a wave of anger towards White once more. He would pay for this. His time would come. Her brain already whirling with various scenarios playing out his death, Max was startled out her reverie by the sound of Logan's phone ringing. Quickly leaping for it before Alec awoke, she was both relieved and apprehensive to hear Dr. Muir's voice on the other end, requesting that they meet. "Can you come here?" Max asked.

"There's some things I need to show you. You will need to come to the hospital. How soon can you get here?" His voice betrayed nothing but his haste indicated enough. Max did not want to leave Alec alone in his confused state but she had little choice.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes." She hung up and immediately dialled Logan's cell but there was no answer. Cursing him, she left a firm message asking him to return to the apartment as soon as he could. Checking one last time on Alec, Max grabbed her leather and jacket and braced herself for the worst.

0000000000

"Right here." Muir pointed his finger at a small grey cloud in Alec's brain. "In his left temporal lobe."

"What is it?" Max asked, hardly wanting to hear the answer. She squinted at the cloud.

"Well, when I enhanced the image," Muir hit a button, bringing the area sharply into detailed focus, "it showed that your friend has some kind of chip in his head. From the activity I have seen, it appears to be altering the relay system inside his head."

Max stared at him quizzically. "I don't understand."

Muir peered at her over the top of his half moon glasses. "Put simply, the temporal lobes are involved in hearing and storing memories. Someone is trying to tamper with Alec's. It appears that they are blocking memories and creating others."

"So what does that mean?"

"That whatever Alec knew before, is no longer in his memories." Muir stared hard at Max, watching to see whether his layman explanation was finally sinking in.

She swallowed hard, trying to process what she was hearing. "They can do that?"

Muir shrugged, letting out a small huffing laugh. "You're proof that some people can. Luckily for your friend…"

"Alec," Max snapped, sick of his clinical study of her friend. "He's a person just like you so quit talking about him like he's hardly human." She set her jaw firmly with hands on her hips. Muir might have the upper hand with his medical knowledge but she wasn't about to let him forget who he was dealing with. "You were saying."

Muir appeared to be suitably off balanced by her outburst and he cleared his throat uncertainly before correcting himself. "Luckily for 'Alec', the operation was done with a huge amount of skill and no invasive surgery."

"You mean no one opened up his brain? How did that chip get inside his head then?"

"Possibly as some kind of nanite that would worm its way through his system to the correct location where it could unfurl and get to work. I'm afraid I don't know much about the most recent developments in that area." Muir turned back to the screen, studying the outline of the alien body carefully.

Max joined him, her eyes narrowed as she tried to see whatever he was seeing. "But you said Alec's real memories are no longer there. Are you saying there's no way to get him back?"

"No, that's not it. His memories are simply no longer accessible to him. They are still intact inside his brain, they are just being blocked by inhibitors in the chip. As Alec reaches for the memories, they are intercepted and reflected back before being jammed with new memories, ones presumably created by whoever did this to him."

Max shook her head. "This can't be happening." Her brain felt like it was on overload. In the idealistic part of her brain, she had envisaged discovering a cure and then kicking White's ass until she got what they needed. Now there was brain surgery, no doubt carrying plenty of risks of its own. The worst part was knowing she could take none of the risks into her own hands. "How do we get the chip out?"

"That's the tough bit, I'm afraid. Surgery to the brain is complicated stuff and science has yet to fully understand everything…"

"Doc, the short answer," Max interjected.

Muir pushed his glasses up his nose once more and mused on the brain scan image once more. "I'd need time to figure that out. I have only just got as far as diagnosing the problem, not discovering a solution."

"Let me know as soon as you find anything." Max headed for the door and then paused. The steely determination that had spurred her so far was finally waning, allowing more human emotions to creep in. "And thank you, doc. I'll find a way to repay you for this." She forced a smile to her lips and ducked out of the hospital.

0000000

"Logan?…Alec?" There was no answer. Max moved through the rooms of the apartment cautiously, grateful to see that there was no sign of a struggle but perturbed that there didn't appear to be any sign of anything.

Picking up her cell, she quickly dialled Logan. He answered but his voice was almost overwhelmed by the sounds of Crash in the background, music thumping loudly amid a surge of voices. "Logan, where's Alec?"

"I thought he was with you," came the nonchalant reply.

"Didn't you get my message?" Max tried to control her mounting annoyance. Didn't he have any clue how serious all this was? It felt like he was being obtuse on purpose. "Never mind," she retorted to his mumbled response and snapped her phone shut. She was on her own. Where would Alec go in a time of need? It was impossible to know. Would the chip force him to familiar places from his old life or his new one? There was only one place to start and Max knew White would be have his spies everywhere.

0000000000

Alec's apartment had yielded nothing and Max was still reeling from the familiar she had found there. The fight had been ugly and she could still feel the scratches delivered by the rabid bitch throbbing on her cheek. She had shown no mercy, almost relishing the opportunity to vent her frustrations on someone who meant nothing to her. It had all ended with a sharp snap of the neck and Max couldn't help but feel a moment's pleasure at the satisfaction she felt in doing it.

Her shoulder ached from her the familiar had rammed her into the wall and Max knew the bruising would be horrific in the morning. Her leg, too, had taken the brunt of the familiar's weight as they had crashed to the floor in the initial struggle. Some kind of debris had definitely cut into her knee and Max could feel the warmth of her own blood seeping down the leg of her pants. But she had to keep moving. If nothing else, the fight had only proven her fears that White was onto them, watching at every turn, ready to pounce.

Max mentally ran through the other options open to her. If he wasn't in his apartment, it was also doubtful that Alec would go to Crash. There would be too many people, bright lights, loud noise, not to mention Logan. In her bitterness, Max bleakly wondered if Eyes Only would even bother to phone her if he saw Alec there. Where would he go? Somewhere quiet, contemplative, somewhere dark enough to temper his own darkness. Then it hit her – the space needle.

00000000

The air was growing chill once more, biting into the stinging cut on Max's cheek but as she stepped out onto the curved dome of the needle roof, she felt only relief when she saw a figure hunched at its rim, a mere toe's length away from the plummeting drop.

Anxious not to scare him, she made deliberate noise as she approached. Wild hazel eyes turned on her, fear registering in the pools of his irises.

"It's okay." Max raised her hands in surrender. One faulty step was all it took and Alec would plunge to his death hundreds of feet below them. "It's okay." She moved slowly forwards. "Do you mind if I join you?"

He studied her face for a moment, eyes softening slowly. Then he shook his head and Max took a seat beside him, making sure she was close enough to catch him if he fell. The wind was picking up and it whistled around the two of them menacingly. "What made you come here?"

Alec did not answer immediately. He tried to piece together all the reasons that had brought him to this point at this time. Yet, no matter how hard he tried to find a logical course of action, there was none in sight. His mind grappled with random thoughts in the darkness but nothing grew clearer, only fainter and more distant. "I don't know. It just seemed like the right place to be."

Max nodded, trying to understand how difficult all this must be for him. She wasn't sure how to proceed, whether he wanted to hear the truth or whether she should go along with the lie he had been fed by White. The only problem was, she didn't know what the lie was, so how could she perpetuate it? This was the reality and Alec needed to hear it, even if he didn't like it. It was the only way forward. Max suddenly found herself imagining the chip as a foe to be fought with and brought down, no matter how futile the effort. "I used to come here all the time, when I first left Manticore. Then, Lydecker got me back and that's how I met you. The needle became a sanctuary for us both at times. I guess that's what drew you here."

Alec's head swivelled towards her, his eyes penetrating her very core. It was impossible to plumb those depths, to read what lay behind them in his messed up mind. Max wondered if she had gone too far, pushed his memories too forcibly upon him. Alec opened his mouth as if to speak then turned back to study the fading horizon. His jaw clenched, small muscles twitching beneath the cold, white skin. Finally he spoke. "You talk about me like you know me, but none of this is real. I have a family, a girlfriend, a place of my own."

"But where are they, Alec? They're not here because they don't exist. I know it's hard for you to believe…but it's the truth." Max spoke calmly, her voice a soft, gentle lilt but her heart screamed to shake him out of his virtual world. Damn Ames White for daring to do this.

Alec shook his head. "They're not here because you don't exist." Then he gestured to the twinkling lights of Seattle spread around them, "None of this exists outside of my own head right now. I'm not here, you're not here!" His voice rose with anger but, more frighteningly, conviction.

"Alec, I'm here! I promise you this is real." Alec continued to shake his head, refusing to even let her words penetrate the shield he had built to protect himself from harm. Max forcibly grabbed his arms and turned him to face her. "Look at me! Alec, look at me!" Slowly, shimmering hazel eyes lifted to meet hers. "Alec, I know this is hard to believe but I want you to hear me out." She watched him, willing him to give in to her. Max knew Alec was as strong as she was, if not stronger. He might not recognise his X5 abilities but she did and she knew he would use them to ignore her argument. "Will you listen?"

Alec's lips twitched into a wry smile but his eyes betrayed him. "I can't. I can't listen to you…" He tailed off, his words ending in a broken whisper.

"Why not?" Max pleaded, her voice gentle once more. "Why can't you listen, Alec?"

He spoke huskily, "Because…because I can't let myself believe in you…"

"I know what's happened to you. Just listen to me and I promise we can get through this. I can prove that this world is the reality, that your family, your girlfriend, your apartment – those are the fantasies." Max swallowed the lump in her throat. It pained her more than she thought possible to take away the one thing that she and all the other Manticore children wanted above anything else. When Alec was restored to her, he wouldn't have a family anymore, not even a memory of one, and she would always be the one who had taken that away from him.

Faltering over her words, Max began to explain. Hugging her hands across her chest as the wind gusted around them, she told him about Manticore, about White's conclave, about Logan, about what was happening in his head. Alec sat silently throughout, his face a mask of indifference to her words. As each miserable event unravelled the next, Max found herself wishing she had never begun. From the outside, Alec's world seemed shattered by White but, to him, she was the one with the sledgehammer. We always hurt the ones we love. Max recalled the expression, wishing she didn't care as much as she did.

Finally she was finished, the last damning words uttered. Max hardly dared to look Alec in the eye. Her hands trembled but she told herself it was just the cold. Steeling herself, she looked over to where Alec was huddled, his knuckles showing white as he gripped the fabric of his jacket. His eyes were dark, his pupils dilated into hollow pits and his lips pursed tightly. Max could take the silence no longer. "Alec?"

She could see him wrestling with everything he had just heard, his brain fighting the chip as one thought was reflected and supplanted by another. She had been a fool to expect him to believe her. How could he fight what his brain was telling him just because she explained it out loud! Max inwardly cursed herself. There was only one card left to play. It was now or never.

END OF PART 14

Pretty please, review for me! Please!


	15. Chapter 15

MAKE ME MAD

By Allegra

See part 1 for disclaimers etc.

Author's Note : I am aware that this part is abominably short (and I usually hate short chapters!) but I thought I'd better post something quickly so that any readers can be assured that I am still at it. There was a bit more than this but the end of this part felt like an appropriate place to end. More soon! Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing so far. You guys give me such impetus to keep going. Please review!

PART 15

"Come with me. I'll prove it to you." Max stood up, extending her hand to Alec. He looked at her as if seeking some sign of her duplicity. Max knew there was nothing she could say anymore. If Alec was going to comply, it would have to be on his own terms. Even so, her heart was in her mouth as he eyed her suspiciously, his eyes brimming with confusion and trepidation.

Alec watched Max. She was so strong and assuring that he desperately wanted to believe she could make everything all right. He wished he knew who to trust but whenever he tried to sort through the jumble in his brain, nothing would stick. Random thoughts and events ran through his mind but none created a linear pattern. The only thing he did know for certain was that Max was good for him. She made him feel like he could breathe easy, that there was some good in this muddle of a world. She had given him no reason to doubt her, so why should he now? Ignoring Max's proffered hand, Alec stood up, ready to follow her lead.

The pair made their way carefully to the bottom of the space needle. Alec was quiet, a state Max had grown accustomed to, while she was alert and ready for action should one of the conclave emerge. It was a blessed relief to reach her ninja. "We need to get away from here. Hop on." She hoped her words sounded suitably nonchalant. It would be several steps back if she had to explain that White and his people might be on their trail. Alec didn't need to hear it.

As Alec wordlessly mounted behind her, Max let her eyes wander over his dishevelled state. For a split second, she had allowed herself to entertain the idea of the pair of them fighting alongside one another once more. Max was kidding herself to have believed it possible even for that long. He was a wreck; his eyes bleary and addled, skin pale except for where flushed cheeks signalled the slow onset of withdrawal from White's medication.

ooooooooo

The moment Alec broke into a run, he could feel the change in himself. He could hear his own heart thumping against his rib cage and the cold tendrils of wind whipping across his cheeks and stinging in his eyes. At first, he had found himself watching Max's lead, her body losing definition as she blurred round the deserted sports track. His eyes had been momentarily unable to keep up with the speed of her movements. Then, his super senses had kicked into gear. Taking a step towards the mark, Alec had managed to track her every move before pursuing. In mere seconds, he was gaining momentum rapidly, sensing how close he was getting to Max. He could hear her breathing, smell the adrenaline emanating from her. With each stride, Alec felt as if he'd been lifted clear off the ground and propelled several feet forwards. Then, he was overtaking her, the finishing line sharp and clear in his field of vision. Alec ground to a halt, his heel kicking up a flurry of dust as he did so.

A second later, Max was at his side. Alec couldn't be sure if she had held back in order to let him win but the experience was already having the desired effect. She held out her wrist, showing the stopwatch clock face. "Thirty seconds from start to finish. You think an ordinary human could do that as well and without breaking a sweat?" Alec looked from the watch to her, suddenly aware that his heart rate had already returned to normal and his breathing was steady and even.

He studied his feet for a moment. "I don't know, Max…there's still so much I can't get straight in my head."

"I know," Max reassured, wishing she could smooth away those anxious lines dragging at Alec's brow. "But is it enough for you to trust me?" Her dark eyes searched his for the answer she desperately wanted to hear.

"Why does that have such an ominous ring to it?" Alec asked, a familiar smile playing across his lips.

Max laughed, enjoying the first moment of true relief since this whole horrific debacle had begun. Suddenly there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel once more. "Does there have to be something bad involved!"

Alec levelled an amused look at her. "I get the feeling that around you it does."

Max playfully punched him on the arm. For the first time since Alec's disappearance, they were sharing a common feeling again. The sensation of running at full speed, the rush was like opening up a motor to the desert road. There was nothing quite like it. It was like a drug, the best upper in the history of good times. Finally, emerging from the haze of mistrust, confusion and medication, Alec was tasting his true self once more and the freedom X5s could experience, even if just for a moment.

ooooooooo

"Max, can we talk…alone?" Logan looked nervously from Max to Alec as they stood in the doorway of his apartment, his eyes taking in the warm flush of the pair's cheeks. Something was different, almost unnatural. But then who was he kidding? He was living in a bona fide freak show. Still, there was something undeniable about this change. Logan couldn't quite put his finger on it but Max and Alec seemed…closer somehow. It made him uncomfortable and the words came out of his mouth much sharper than he had intended.

Either his tone or his expression must have said it all because Max returned a frosty glare. "Sure, we can talk, Logan. How about we start with how you disappeared off and didn't bother picking up your messages when Alec was left alone?" Hands on hips, she drummed her fingers angrily.

Logan raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You're kidding me, right? Max, I'm not a fucking babysitter. I'm sorry if I wasn't checking my cell phone like an anxious father but I had business to attend to, okay."

"Business?" Max spat the words out. "At Crash? Yeah, a real place of business."

Logan could feel his own annoyance rising. Oh, give me a break, Max. I've done everything you asked of me and then some, so just cut the crap!"

Max clenched her teeth hard, biting back the urge to deck a disabled man. "Fine, you know what, never mind. I guess I was stupid to think you might care as much about getting Alec well again as I did. Just forget it. We'll get out of your way."

"Oh, that's right! Go ahead, run away, Max, 'cos you're so good at that! Don't sort it out, just climb on your bike and disappear. That's what I've always loved about you, how mature you can be." Logan's voice rose, his anger concealing the slight edge of panic he felt at the prospect of losing Max forever. As ever though, Max was ready with a retaliation and the argument escalated.

Amidst the quarrel, no one noticed the change in Alec. The rosy flush to his cheeks had faded while his skin was growing increasingly cool and clammy. Greyness tinged his flesh unnaturally, only emphasising the sheen of sweat standing out across his brow and dampening the hair against his forehead. He watched with detachment as Max and Logan went at it, both completely enveloped in the cathartic benefits of a good old fashioned argument.

At first, Alec had been ready to intervene, hating to hear them argue over him and his pathetic condition. He wasn't sure which he detested more, the knowledge that he was the focus of the maelstrom or that he was too weak to look after himself. Suitably fired, he had taken a step forward, prepared to get involved, but the room had taken a sickening nose dive and Alec was forced to grip hold of the door frame to stop himself from falling flat on his face. He strained his eyes to see the room more clearly but it only swam unsteadily before him, blurring and spinning around him.

Alec pressed the back of one hand against his closed lids, desperately determined to quell the unsettling sensation. His stomach lurched with nauseating vigour and it took all of his rapidly depleting energy to prevent himself from depositing the entire day's food onto Logan's carpet. Again, he struggled to bring the rotating room to a stand still but his efforts were futile.

No longer able to sustain the appearance of being fine, Alec bent double with the onset of sharp cramps in his stomach. Dropping to his knees, he clutched trembling hands to his belly but the pain peaked violently and he couldn't contain the short cry that burst from his lips.

In seconds, Max and Logan were at his side and Alec could feel Max's warm hand on his back. "Alec?" Her voice did nothing to disguise her concern. "Alec, what's the matter? Talk to me."

The pain took his breath away and when he found the strength to speak again, his voice came in pants, barely a whisper. His eyes remained squeezed tightly shut against the whirlwind of Logan's apartment spinning around him. "God, it hurts…" he managed.

Max's hand moved to his forehead, her skin dry and warm against his own cold, clammy flesh and, for a blissful moment, it gave Alec relief, but his mind was shutting down against the bombardment of sensations and he could feel himself pitching forwards. He dimly heard Max's urgent voice saying, "He's burning up…" before the darkness claimed him.

ooooooooooooooo

END OF PART 15


	16. Chapter 16

MAKE ME MAD

By Allegra

See Part 1 for disclaimers etc.

AUTHOR'S NOTE : So, this is it. The big finale! This poor story has languished in the "unfinished" hell of my brain, where so many stories go to die bereft of the limbs to make them whole! I was determined that Alec would not suffer the same fate. This fic definitely has potential for a sequel and I originally had plans to make it longer but, right now, I'd be more likely to write a 'Supernatural' story than another DA one. However, if anyone else would like to take over the mantle, feel free! I hope this is enough of a resolution for all my supporters. Thank you a thousand times over for all the reviews which have been critical in keeping this story alive. Without your words of encouragement, Alec would still be at Pineview and I would never have reached this day. So, without further ado…

PART 16

Alec was pale but his skin burned against Max's cool hand on his forehead. Beads of sweat stood out across his upper lip and she could feel him trembling all over, his body heaving in shuddering spasms. Alec's breath came in laboured gasps, shallow and ineffective. "Alec! Alec? Talk to me," Max pleaded, but Alec was beyond coherent thought.

"We need Muir," Logan stated bluntly, reaching for the phone. "This is probably withdrawal from whatever White had pumped into him."

Max's breath caught in her throat as she leaned across Alec's chest and felt the thumping beat of his heart. How long could an X5 heart go at that pace before it exploded? Muir had better come quickly. It was unbearable to watch her friend in this state, unable to do anything besides stand by and watch helplessly. "Get me wet towels! He's burning up," she commanded, desperate to do something useful.

Using her mutant strength, Max easily lifted Alec in her arms and moved him into Logan's room and settled him on the bed, untangling his arm from her own and rearranging his limbs in a more comfortable position. Tremors racked his body, muscles tensing momentarily before going slack once more. Bleakly, Max was reminded of the X5 reaction to tryptophan and recalled the brutal suffering an attack brought on. She prayed that Alec was not suffering as much as that now. He had been through enough already.

"Muir will be here soon," Logan said, pausing in the doorway.

"I wish this was over," Max murmured.

"Me too," Logan replied, for entirely different reasons.

* * *

Dr. Muir didn't waste any time getting to them and Max was grateful for that. He injected Alec with a mild muscle relaxant and short-term tranquiliser. "He needs time to rest."

"But we have no idea what that damned chip is doing to him. I mean, we already know it's messing with his memories, but what if there's more?! While we're sitting here, it could be killing him!" Max opened her mouth to continue the tirade but caught herself. She had surprised herself as well as Muir and Logan with her sudden outburst. She didn't feel like she had a handle on her emotions anymore. Rational thought kept eluding her and she knew how dangerous that could be. The last thing Alec needed was a guardian who couldn't think straight.

Muir said nothing at first, waiting for the wave of rage to pass. He seemed unfazed by Max's ferocity and that annoyed Max even more. He had power that she had to rely on, his ability to save Alec with medical science, but, more than anything, she wanted control of the situation and that was rapidly becoming impossible. Shaking her head, Max rubbed one hand across her brow. "I'm sorry," she breathed. "I guess I'm just wound a little tight."

Muir snapped his medical bag shut and bowed his head in thought for a moment. "You are right, Miss Guevara. I have been stalling."

Max's head snapped towards him, her stomach roiling. Was he about to turn on them after all? She had dreaded this all along. Was there no one left for transgenics to trust?

"Why?" she asked, wishing she did not have to hear the answer. Her hands tightened into fists at her side.

Muir's demeanour showed no sign that he was waiting for a confrontation. He looked her directly in the eye. "You know my credentials. While I am sympathetic to the transgenic cause, I have no true expertise in this field. I have indeed been stalling…because I suppose I am afraid."

Max allowed her hands to relax slowly. "Afraid?" she repeated.

Muir examined her confused expression and laughed, mirthlessly. "Perhaps you have not seen yourself recently. You are a soldier, a genetically engineered soldier. If I mess up this surgery, you could easily snap my neck like a twig. I can't make promises to you of this young man's complete or even partial recovery."

Both pairs of eyes turned to the sleeping form on the bed, completely unaware of the danger he was in.

"Then don't," Max urged. "I know you can't work miracles, doc. Just do your best, but we need to do it now, while there's still a good chance of Alec's body rejecting that chip. I promise I won't snap your neck." She could hardly believe that she was saying those last words without a smile on her lips. "Please."

Muir nodded, curtly. "Fine. I will organise the venue and time, probably late tomorrow night. I know a trusted colleague who might assist me during the operation. He might need a little financial incentive though."

At this point, Logan stepped forward. "I'm sure I can come up with an appropriate sum." He caught Max's surprised and relieved glance. Had she really lost that much faith in him? For her, he managed a small smile of reassurance but inside his heart was sinking.

Muir nodded, gratefully. "I've been analysing the drugs Alec was fed. They were mainly neural inhibitors with some addictive components mixed in to make the delivery less arduous. If Alec wanted it, they hardly needed to worry about whether he would take it or not."

Max nodded, her mind revolting at the extent of what White was capable of. "Then I guess the quicker we get that chip out, the better."

* * *

Alec was not to wake until the early hours of the following morning and Max barely left his side. Logan had offered to take over but she had refused, knowing how it must have hurt him but just selfishly following her own need to be there with Alec. She had dozed off a few times on the chair but the ache in her neck had made it impossible for more than a few brief minutes. Eventually, Max decided it wouldn't hurt to share the bed with Alec. He was absolutely still, taking up only a fraction of the large double bed. Strange as it seemed to be in Logan's bed with another man, Max felt comfortable there.

Lying on her side, her head resting on one bent arm, she watched the gentle rise and fall of Alec's chest. She traced a mental path up to the sharp angle of his jaw, noting the thudding pulse of his carotid artery in his neck. His full lips were parted slightly, dark eyelashes gracing the pallid tone of his skin.

Idly, she wondered whose image he had been made in. She remembered how Lydecker's reactions to her were always tinted with emotion because she showed such likeness to a woman he had cared about. It was odd to think that someone somewhere would feel that racing emotion of love if they saw Alec. One human, one transgenic, linked by something so powerful as lineage, yet the escapees from Manticore had never truly experienced love. It was alien. Soldiers didn't love…but they learned to. Was that what she felt for Logan? Was that what she was feeling now as her eyes lingered over Alec's sleeping form, his presence inciting a warmth in her that she had never felt before.

At some point, she must have slept, because the next think she knew, Max's eyes snapped open to be met by the scrutiny of a pair of hazel eyes in sunken sockets ahead of her. Blinking hard to clear her vision, she stared back at Alec, momentarily embarrassed by the intimacy of their position. "Hey," she managed, her voice no louder than a whisper.

"Hey," he replied, his own voice hoarse with disuse.

"How are you feeling?" Max asked, silently noting how many times she had been given cause to ask that question in the past days. "We were worried about you."

Casually avoiding answering the question told Max enough as he said, "I'm sorry I scared you." His shadowed eyes turned away from her then and he pressed his thumb and fore finger against the sockets. A ragged sigh escaped his lips. He pushed himself to his elbows but the sudden movement sent black dots dancing before his eyes and he winced, dropping back onto the bed.

"Take it easy," Max protested. "Dr. Muir says you need rest and plenty of it." She pressed a placating hand on his chest to hold Alec down but he shrugged it off, clearly irritated by the gesture. She quickly withdrew and studied him carefully.

"Quit staring at me," came the curt response. At least part of the old Alec was back again.

"I'm sorry," Max apologised and swung her legs off the side of the bed. Whatever moment of peace they had shared in the first precious moments of morning was now over and it felt wrong to lie there alongside him like a lover. "I'm just worried about you."

"Yeah?" Alec replied, acidly. "Well, I'm sick of it! Sick of all of this! What the hell's the point of waking up each day? It's just another day of weird headaches, seizures, withdrawal symptoms and, hey, if I'm really lucky I might get to pass out again and forget that I'm alive for a few hours!"

Alarmed by the ferocity with which he spoke, Max wasn't sure how to reply. "Alec…"

Pulling himself upright, wincing again as the world spun around him, Alec warded off her ministrations with a wave of his hand. "Don't, Max. I want this damned chip out…now."

"I know you do and I've been talking to Muir about the risks…"

"Damn the risks!" Alec blurted out and then closed his eyes, letting out a steadying breath. Calming himself as much as he could, he continued more evenly. "I'm sorry, Max." His voice grew ragged and Max could see from the tension in his wasted frame how hard he was trying to keep it all together. He bowed his head, avoiding her, but when he lifted it once more, his eyes were shimmering with unshed tears. "I just, I can't keep doing this. I can't go on living like…like a zombie. I don't feel anything, I don't want anything, I don't enjoy anything. I feel nothing, Max. Do you know what that's like? I don't even know who I am anymore. I've got to get it out of me. Whatever this chip is doing to me, if what you tell me is really true, then I've got to have that surgery."

Max nodded, her body flooded with relief that he was finally able to trust her. He believed her. Alec was no longer a prisoner of the memories that chip had forced on him. She reached across the bed and laid a hand on his knee. "It's okay. I understand. We're going to help you. Dr. Muir is already arranging a time for your surgery. You'll be back to your old self before you know it."

* * *

Muir's phone call had come sooner than even Alec had been prepared for but his mind was already made up and Logan had driven them to Harbour Lights hospital in silence, each traveller's mind caught up in the possible outcomes of this night.

As they made their way to surgery, Max followed behind Alec, noticing with a wrench how small he suddenly seemed. Logan had shaved a patch of his hair off ready for the scalpel at the side of Alec's head where Muir had said the point of entry would be. The big duffel coat drawn around his gaunt body only served to heighten the child like effect, with only the tips of his fingers visible at the cuffs.

Logan had opted to stay out of the way until Alec was in surgery, sensitively avoiding making the patient feel like a freak show. Max had waited while Alec put on a hospital gown and was lying on a gurney by the time she was allowed to see him again. He already had an IV in his arm plus Muir had made Max aware of all the procedures and Alec had not eaten for the required number of hours. Looking him over, it hardly looked like he ate, period.

"We're ready to put him under if you would like to say a few words." Max turned to the doctor, Muir's colleague. The man was much younger than Muir but had a friendly, open face which comforted Max somewhat, although she had learned the hard way not to trust anyone's first impressions. Right now, she had no choice. As soon as Alec was in the clear, they would be out of there like a shot and they would deal with the consequences knowing it had been worth the risk.

She nodded and moved across to Alec's bed and gave him her warmest smile. "You're going to do great. Just hang in there." Her voice caught unexpectedly in her throat and the last word came out in a strangled whisper.

Alec nodded, a fraction of a smile crossing his lips for her sake alone. The injection was quick acting and it was mere moments before his eyes drifted closed, heavy with sleep. Max was asked to wait outside and that she shouldn't expect to hear from them until the surgery was over. This was going to be the hardest part, the waiting. Max desperately wanted to leap onto her ninja and ride into the night, letting the cold air whip against her cheeks and her mind wander wherever it chose. But she knew she couldn't. Alec would be here, fighting for his life and she had promised to stay at his side. If she lost him…. No. She couldn't even go there.

* * *

Muir checked Alec's vitals as his mask was secured by a young nurse. He glanced down at the youthful face, struck by the vulnerability he saw there, despite everything he had heard about the transgenics. A mouthpiece of a tube passed down his throat and into his trachea obscured the lower part of the boy's face and his skin seemed almost translucent in the harsh overhead lights.

Assured that everything was as it should be, Muir requested the scalpel and began the first incision into the young man's skull.

* * *

"Here," Logan pressed a coffee into Max's hand and dropped into the seat beside her.

"Thanks." Max leaned back into the plastic bucket seat but her eyes never moved from the wall straight ahead of her.

Logan followed her gaze, struggling to find words to soothe her. "He's going to pull through, Max. Alec's a fighter."

Max puffed her breath out, sarcastically. "Where did you learn to say stuff like that?"

Logan shrugged, prepared to do all the work in this conversation. "Spend as many hours as I have in hospitals, you learn a thing or two about bedside manners."

At that, Max turned to him, the harsh lines of her face softening suddenly. "I guess so," she smiled. "I'm glad those times are over." She looked at him, seeing the man she had fallen in love with instead of the jealous boyfriend for the first time in weeks. "I'm sorry, Logan."

"Sorry? For what?" he asked, taking a sip of coffee.

"For how I've been acting, for ignoring how hard this must be for you." Her chocolate eyes held his, sincerity shining through. "I guess I'd just forgotten, forgotten what you mean to me."

"It's okay," Logan assured her. "Nothing's broken that can't be fixed. You've had a rough ride. Hell, we all have." He reached one hand out to grip hers and Max returned the gesture with a squeeze.

"It's just with Alec…" she paused, unsure of what she was going to say to explain their relationship, warped as it was.

Sensing her discomfort, Logan folded her hand under his, "It's okay, you don't have to explain."

"I want to," Max said, firmly, looking up at him. "You deserve an explanation. Alec's like a brother to me, like family and…I killed Ben. Every time I look into Alec's face, I see Ben again." Her voice faltered, struggling to say the words against a tide of sorrow threatening to overwhelm her. "I feel the guilt of killing him, of leaving him when I could have…"

"Max, don't," Logan urged. He put down his coffee and pulled her against the firm security of his chest. "You weren't to blame. What has happened to Alec is not your fault."

"But that's just it. I ignored him. I knew he was missing for days before I did anything about it and now…"

"Now what's done is done. We can't go back, Max, we can only move on. I love you and I will be here for you, no matter what."

Max clung desperately to her guilt, knowing it was the only thing that kept her strong, but the weight of Logan's arm around her shoulders, the even rise and fall of his chest beneath her head were too powerful to resist. The lump in her throat gave way to a sob and she turned into his embrace, allowing the torrent of tears to course down her cheeks until she was unable to stop. Wave after wave of emotion washed over her, battering her down, but Logan stayed with her and soothed her until Max was spent.

Running her own arms around his waist, she closed her eyes and gave in to the sleep she had refused for so long. She finally admitted defeat, knowing there was nothing more she could do for Alec now. He had to face this one alone.

* * *

Seconds slid into minutes and minutes into hours before Dr. Muir emerged from the operating theatre, the surgical mask still dangling around his neck. He approached the sleeping pair on the seats and gently shook Max awake. She looked around in confusion for a second before reality dawned on her and she pulled herself upright, waking Logan in the process.

"How is he?" she asked, her heart already pounding like she had just been running a marathon.

"He made it through the surgery. Now it's up to him to do the rest." Muir's voice was gravely and tired but his eyes were still bright and alert.

"Can I see him?" Max asked.

"He's in recovery but you can sit with him for a short time until we can move him somewhere more secure." The gravity of his words were only too quickly heeded by Max. They were in the lion's den, an injured transgenic amongst the humans. Even though Alec was not out of the woods, Max's mind already raced with the potential dangers they faced by remaining in the hospital for even twenty-four hours. "I will take you to him," Muir promised, then turned back to Logan. "I took the liberty of calling on one of your old contacts, Logan, to take a look at the chip we extracted. He's in his van out the back."

"I'll go and check on him." Logan looked at Max, "Will you be okay?"

Through bleary, swollen eyes, Max nodded, then followed Dr. Muir's lead towards the recovery room.

* * *

Alec was adrift on a sea of monitors and electrical equipment that made him appear more like a robot on recharge than a living being. Max wondered how all this electricity could really keep him alive like a real person. If he had looked washed out before the surgery, his condition appeared even more deteriorated in the aftermath of it. The stark white bandages wrapped around his head only served to highlight how pale his skin had become, his bloodless lips almost translucent. The smudges of shadow beneath his eyes had spread to the tip of his cheekbones and, were it not for evidence to the contrary, Max could have believed him dead.

A ventilator dictated his breathing, the steady hiss of air being pumped in and out of his weakened lungs loud in the stillness of the room. Monitors beeped and flashed around the bedside as Max took a seat beside her friend. She dared not touch him, indeed, it was hard to find a part of him unfettered by medical equipment for the touching. Leaning across, Max rubbed her hand lightly over his arm, being careful not to dislodge the IV line running into the back of his hand.

"Oh, Alec," she breathed, willing those hazel eyes to open but knowing it would be some time before they did. Max knew that she should be relieved that the ordeal was over. She had considered the surgery to be the worst part but only now did she realise that the true torture had only just begun. Brain surgery was complicated at best and fatal at worst. What lot had Alec drawn? Were the Fates going to smile on him or did he still have dues to pay? Drawing the chair closer to the bed, Max kept her hold on Alec's arm, mentally anchoring him to this world.

* * *

Logan returned from the van to find Max back in the waiting room while Alec was moved to a wing where he could be monitored but where he would not raise too many questions. "Hey, how's Alec doing?"

"It's hard to tell," Max replied, honestly. "He looks dreadful but I guess that's no big news. Muir is having him moved now but he said the quicker we can get Alec out of here the better."

Logan nodded. "I can probably sort something out. But listen, first, this friend of mine, Dwyer, he's a complete tech head. His van is kitted out with all the latest gadgets and he's already figured out the basic function of the chip. Muir was right that it was tampering with Alec's memories. It was working like a storage device for any new memories as well as replacing the old ones. The chip contains data about everything Alec has done and seen since the day it was implanted in his head."

Max frowned, "But why? Why would White want to do that?"

"To get to you, Max! He's not stupid. He knows only too well that you are the leader of the X5s, if ever there were one. We took Alec out of Pineview early so we never knew how big White's plan was, but I figure he was going to send Alec back to monitor us. White could use him like a sleeper. Alec would unwittingly be gathering intelligence about Eyes Only and your plans then probably relaying it back to the Conclave."

"But why did they give him new memories?" Max asked, confused.

"Maybe they needed it as a red herring. Maybe White wanted you to think he had been trying to brainwash Alec so that he could get him to join their forces, turn the X5s against their own. You would think it was a botched attempt to brainwash Alec but he would be happily gathering information from us through one of our own. By giving Alec a new life, a broken life, he wouldn't have any memory of you or your cause and his "new" life would be ruined beyond repair. White wouldn't have any trouble taking Alec under his wing and bringing him over to his side." Logan shrugged. "I don't know for sure, but it makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it does," Max agreed, sombrely. "That son-of-a-bitch," she mumbled.

"Dwyer is still examining the chip though. He can give us details in time but the nature of the device was mainly for storage."

Max looked up suddenly, her eyes like saucers. "Logan, will that chip have all the memories since Pineview stored on it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Logan said, "unless White already had a remote way of downloading the information."

"So it could tell us everything about what they did to Alec inside Pineview?"

Logan swallowed. "Yes, it could." He knew as well as Max how ugly that could be. He dreaded to think what they would find when, if, they looked at it.

* * *

Max sat quietly with Alec as she had done for the past five hours. The time had eked itself out but her mind was still racing with the dismal possibilities of what the chip would hold, of what White's long-term scheme might have been. Every fibre of her body was screaming to throttle him, to mutilate him and see his body left to rot for what he had done, for what he planned to do.

Her gaze wandered once more to the still figure on the bed, the ventilator removed as the only sign that Alec was improving at all. His hair stuck up over the bandage wrapped across his head. His breathing was slow and sure, regulated by his own brain. That had to be a good sign, Max thought.

She smoothed her fingers over his hand, watching for some sign of waking, a sign she had been waiting for since the small hours of the morning. Still, her heavy lids would not close. Max's brain would not let her sleep. It turned over the titbits of information she had received from Logan over and over again.

So lost in her thoughts, Max didn't even see the return to consciousness she had been waiting for. Before she knew it, those hazel eyes were staring at her, clouded from fatigue and painkillers. Leaning forward, Max felt a smile tug at her lips as she gently took Alec's hand in her own.

"Alec? It's me, Max. You're in the hospital. You're okay." The hazel eyes held her gaze but they gave no sign of comprehension. Max's smile broadened but fear still nagged at the corners of her mind. "Alec? Do you remember me?"

THE END


	17. Epilogue

MAKE ME MAD

By Allegra

See part 1 for disclaimers etc.

AUTHOR'S NOTE : I have to give my profuse apologies for the way I ended this story. I know there are some people who are unhappy with it and I guess it is a bit of a cop-out after you've stayed with this for sooooo long. I think my DA streak finally died and, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't resurrect Alec enough to do him justice anymore. I think Dean Winchester has just sucked me in too much now! So, I am apologising and hoping that it will be enough that I managed to finish at all, rather than leave the story to die! I promise the next thing I write will have a much firmer deadline for myself so this doesn't happen again!

Perhaps to appease a small portion of my own guilt about winding 'Make Me Mad' up so fast, here's a tiny epilogue for anyone who might still be interested!

On a nicer note though, Hilz72 took up the mantle and has offered a story about Alec's long road to recovery in a sequel called 'Make Me Mad 2' which is here at So, check her out if you'd like a different continuation.

* * *

Crash was heaving with bodies, the smell of sweat mingling in the air with cigarette smoke and the reek of alcohol. Max had been there for three hours already and, even in her hardened state, was starting to feel the worse for wear after a few too many beers. But one thing kept her sober, or one person at least. He was conspicuous in his absence, although the trauma of the past few months was making it a more normal occurrence with each passing day.

Alec used to be an elusive creature, popping up late for work, if at all, huddling in some corner with his latest victim, intent on the most recent scam to enter his head. Max had despaired of him then, but never more than she did now. He was all too easily found these days, holed up in his musty apartment, rarely going out. His smile was an occasional flash but it never lasted and even Joshua was struggling to find ways to keep his spirits up. Barely a day had passed without some medical test to be taken and it was wearing the young transgenic down.

Max wished there was something she could do but her words sounded hollow and empty, devoid of real meaning. It felt like Alec was sinking away from her and, no matter how far she reached down to pull him out, the quagmire dragged him further.

Muttering a word of excuse to Original Cindy, Max grabbed her jacket and stepped out into the fresh, damp Seattle night. She walked the streets slowly, barely noticing how her footsteps led her in one direction alone A dim flicker of electric light registered a few floors up in the derelict apartment block and Max drew her jacket tighter around her as she made her way up the staircase. Already knowing she would receive no answer, Max knocked on the door. "Alec? You home?" No answer. "It's Max." Still no answer. "I'm coming in." She pushed the door open. Part of her hated the fact that her friend left himself so vulnerable to attack but, without his lack of security, she would be unable to check up on him either.

The hallway was dark but the feeble light ahead showed her the way. Alec was slumped in the battered, leather chair he always frequented. The television was on low, the picture fuzzy and distorted. In days gone by, this scene would have still been familiar, but the figure in the chair would have been several pounds heavier with a bag of chips in his hand, commenting constantly on every action unfolding on the TV. Now, as Max neared him, she could see that Alec was asleep. His face was drawn and haggard, a mere shadow of his former self. The delicate skin around his eyes was dark, red-rimmed with fatigue. Max leaned forward and rested one hand over his. "Alec?"

His eyelids fluttered then opened, hazel green eyes locking onto her own. "Hey," she smiled, hoping to transfer some of the warmth she felt into his cold body. "Been watching too many Oprah reruns again?" she quipped.

Alec smiled weakly. "Guess so." He pulled himself upright in the chair and looked out of the window. "It's dark. Man, I must have been sleeping a while." He caught Max's concerned gaze and ran one hand through his hair. "Don't give me that look, Max. What did you want?"

"I'm not looking at you like anything!" she protested. "I just wanted to check on you. You said you were coming to Crash but you never showed."

"I never said I was coming. I said I might come. There's a difference." Alec levelled an accusatory look. He knew Max had heard well enough the first time. She was trying to guilt him into going out for the night. "I'm just…"

"…not ready," Max finished for him. She regretted her words the instant they left her lips. She couldn't even begin to fathom how hard the past months had been on Alec and now she was getting snappy about one night at Crash. "I'm sorry," she added, weakly.

"It's okay," Alec shrugged. "I know I've been a drag, Max. Hell, I get on my own nerves some days."

"It's fine. We'll get through this eventually," Max tried to sound reassuring, despite the fact that, right now, she couldn't imagine things ever being the same again. For a few minutes, silence filled the space between them, the muffled television voices only amplifying their loss of words.

"Listen, Max. There's something I wanted to say." Alec idly examined his fingers, bluntly refusing to meet her gaze. "Today Muir ran his last test. He said I was in the clear, that he had done everything he could…"

"That's great!" Max grinned. "So no more needles. You must be thrilled."

"Yeah, I am."

"But…?" Max could sense a 'but' a mile away.

Finally, Alec looked at her. "I can't just flick a switch overnight, Max, and go back to being the person I was. Hell, I don't even know that person!" His voice crescendo-ed and fell, suddenly aware of how defensive he was already sounding. "I need some space, Max." Her mouth opened and closed but Alec continued, "I know that's probably not what you want to hear, but it's the truth of it. There's nothing medically wrong with me, no more drugs I need to take or try to stop taking. I just need time to find out who I really am again."

Max nodded, wishing she understood better but knowing Alec's words came from the heart. "Okay," she managed, biting back the desperate question of how long he was going to need. How long is a piece of string?

"I'm leaving Seattle, gonna take a road trip or something, just get away from…all this." He looked around at the damp walls and scuzzy furniture. Already reading Max's mind, he added, "Don't worry. I'll be careful…and I will be back."

Max nodded again, "Sure you will. Us brothers and sisters have got to stick together, right?" She playfully punched Alec's knee.

"Exactly." Alec swallowed then leaned close to Max. "I owe you everything, Max. I know I owe you my life. I won't forget that."

"Don't, Alec. Don't hold this over us. It's over. You need the space to clear your mind, I get that. Just promise me that you won't bring it back as a debt to pay. We're good." She pressed her hands into his, willing him to believe her. Then, in a gesture she never dreamed she would make, she ran one hand lightly over Alec's cavernous cheek. "Just stay in touch, okay?"

"Always," he replied, hoarsely.

Max swept the briefest of kisses across his brow and stood up, hastily chasing away the awkwardness of her actions. She knew the moment had passed and that it was time to go but she needed to look into those hazel green eyes one more time. She needed to believe she would look into them again one day and that the person reflected back would no longer be haunted.

"Bye, Alec."

* * *

THE END – for real! 


End file.
